Why isn't it a good idea to do business with a "fame whore?" Why isn't an entirely bad idea? And while we're talking about Jake Palveka and not Jay Leno, what's up with the late-night talker anyway?
The answers—and more questions—in the latest TV ratings quiz:
1. If you're Ali Fedotowsky, what was the downside of sharing Monday's Bachelorette with the post-split Palveka and Vienna Girardi? Attention hogs don't share. Palveka's and Girardi's sit-down interview with Bachelor/Bachelorette host Chris Harrison averaged a show-best 10.1 million viewers, per estimates.
2. What was the upside? Pavelka and Girardi energized an otherwise blah holiday-weekend night. The non-Jake and Vienna portion of The Bachelorette averaged 8.7 million viewers.
3. Can Fedotowsky draw a crowd on her own? Yup. The previous Bachelorette—the one noted in the latest Nielsen weekly rankings, as released today—scored the franchise's biggest non-finale audience ever, ABC said. To be fair, Fedotowsky did get an assist from the final fame whorish-act of Justin "Rated R" Rego.
4. Is Leno winning or losing? Winning—or "beating," as TV By the Numbers argues. In TV's just-completed second quarter, which roughly ran April-June, three of Leno's first four months back on the Tonight Show job, the host didn't do so well against history, but did fine against David Letterman's Late Show.
5. So, about that theory of Steve Carell's Office exit serving as a ratings draw, in the short run, for the Emmy-winning comedy… True or false? True, so far. Last week's rerun, the first to air since the Carell news broke, scored the show's biggest audience in a month, NBC said: 2.8 million viewers.
6. Futurama is back: Are you? It would seem so. The latest new episode delivered series-savior Comedy Central its biggest audience of the week: 2.2 million. Overall, cable was led, on the non-sports side, by Royal Pains (4 million), Pawn Stars (3.83 million) and Burn Notice (3.8 million).
Here's a look at the 10 most-watched, all-new broadcast network shows for the week ended Sunday, per Nielsen Media Research:
- America's Got Talent (Wednesday), 12.9 million
- America's Got Talent (Tuesday), 10.2 million
- The Bachelorette, 9.8 million
- Wipeout (Thursday), 8.7 million
- Wipeout (Tuesday), 8.2 million
- Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks (NBC special), 6.9 million
- Rookie Blue, 6.8 million
- Boston Pops Fireworks (CBS special), 6.7 million
- Hell's Kitchen (9 p.m., Tuesday), 6.4 million
- Lie to Me, 6.2 million
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Who can keep track of all the The Bachelor/Bachelorette drama? Watch With Kristin can.