IDOL, DANCING DOMINATE RATINGS

As Fox’s American Idol and ABC’s Dancing with the Stars neared the final stretch, ratings for both shows continued to dominate the Nielsen ratings list last week. Some 23.05 million viewers watched the Wednesday performance edition of Idol, while 22.45 million watched the Thursday results show. Dancing with the Stars attracted 20.74 million on Monday and 17.54 million on Tuesday. The Dancing lead-in also lifted another ABC show, Castle, into the top ten with 12.60 million viewers on Monday night at 10:00. (Fox does not air programming during the 10:00 p.m. hour.) Almost everything else of importance in the ratings belonged to CBS, however, which remained the most-watched network overall with a 6.4 average rating and an 11 share. ABC was No. 2 with an average 5.6/9, coming out ahead of Fox which had a 4.9/8. NBC remained a distant fourth with a 3.2/5.

The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research:
1. American Idol (Wednesday), Fox, 13.0/21; 2. Dancing with the Stars (Monday), ABC, 12.9/20; 3. American Idol (Thursday), Fox, 12.6/21; 4. Dancing with the Stars (Tuesday), ABC, 11.1/17; 5. NCIS, CBS, 10.9/18; 6. NCIS: Los Angeles, CBS, 9.3/14; 7. The Mentalist, CBS, 8.7/14; 8. Criminal Minds, CBS, 8.2/13; 9. Castle, ABC, 8.0/13; 10. 60 Minutes, CBS, 7.9/14.