ratings (279 posts)

ABC; ABC/Donna Svennevik

Sarah Palin's poll numbers are through the roof.

Monday's Oprah Winfrey Show, featuring the first stop on Palin's Going Rogue book tour, scored the daytime talk show's highest ratings in two years, reports said. 

And, yes, that means Palin outdrew the chimp-attack victim, Mackenzie Phillips' shocking daddy disclosure,  and Ellen DeGeneres' wedding video, to name three recent high-profile Oprah Winfrey gets.

Never underestimate the appeal of a pistol-packin' former vice presidential candidate with Levi Johnston problems, apparently.

Elsewhere in TV-ratings land, Heather Locklear saved Melrose Place last night. Well, sort of.

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Why should Larry King have walked out on Carrie Prejean? Did Gossip Girl's threesome radiate an afterglow? And what did Craig Ferguson do that Craig Ferguson had never done before?

The answers—and more questions—in the latest TV ratings quiz:

1. Whom did viewers find more "inappropriate," Carrie Prejean or Larry King? Judging by the numbers, Prejean. Wednesday's Larry King Live, featuring Prejean (and to be fair, other guests, as well), was the CNN show's second least-watched episode of the week, averaging only 633,000, or only a fraction of what clips of the Prejean-King dust-up scored on YouTube.

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At first glance, it sure looked like Glee's Rachel and Kurt picked the wrong night to do a diva-off against Taylor Swift.

Just days after Swift led Saturday Night Live to its best ratings of the season, the singing sensation helped the Country Music Association Awards to its biggest audience in four years.

The ABC telecast, featuring big wins by Swift, Swift, Swift and Swift, averaged nearly 17 million viewers, easily winning Wednesday's prime-time race.

So, was it curtains for Glee, after all?

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Giovanni Rufino/ The CW

How many people had their Lizzie Maguire memories destroyed by Gossip Girl last night? How bad did Rihanna's interview show up Chris Brown's? And why would Saturday Night Live never dream of pulling a Kanye West on Taylor Swift?

The answers—and more questions—in this week's TV ratings quiz:

1. So, was that threesome good for Gossip Girl? It wasn't bad, especially considering the event was nothing more explicit than three people (Penn Badgley, Jessica Szhor and Disney grad Hilary Duff) not kissing at the same time. The CW show was up 18 percent from last week: 2.3 million estimated viewers versus 1.95 million, per Nielsen stats.

2. What were the two most surprising things about the episode? One, the show lost viewers as it headed into its threesome-boasting final half-hour; two, teenage boys chose to watch The Big Bang Theory instead. (The show did best, per usual, among young adult women.)

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ABC/DAVID GRAY

The aliens have landed. And we couldn't wait to welcome them.

V, ABC's redo of the 1980s sci-fi franchise, notched the fall's biggest new series premiere among the viewers TV networks covet most.

Overall, last night's hourlong opener averaged 13.9 million hapless humans, preliminary Nielsen estimates showed, topping NBC's The Biggest Loser (8.5 million) and the first hour of Fox's So You Think You Can Dance (6.4 million).  CBS' NCIS (19.4 million) was its typical monster self, and led the 8 p.m. hour—but not among those aforementioned viewers TV networks covet most.

V, which originally invaded TV in 1983, via NBC, was actually the night's highest rated show among the cool kids, also besting NCIS: Los Angeles and Dancing With the Stars.

Guess we've been waiting for somebody to take care of all the rodents.

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How's Jon & Kate Minus Jon working out for TLC? Why is Kate Hudson's boyfriend spreading his wings? And did Heroes just suck you in again?

The answers—and more questions—in the latest TV ratings quiz:

1. Can Kate Gosselin compete with Jon & Kate? Yes. And she can outdo it, too. Last week's Kate-only episode, "You Ask, Kate Answers," was 50 percent bigger, audience-wise, than the previous week's joint-custody adventure.

2. What is the Centaur Effect? On Friday, Us Weekly reported that Alex Rodriguez owned two paintings of himself as a half-man, half-horse. On Sunday, the World Series, featuring Rodriguez's New York Yankees, galloped off with nearly 23 million viewers, TV's No. 1 show of the week, and the fall classic's most watched contest in five years.

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ABC/CRAIG SJODIN

FlashForward, The Vampire Diaries and The Real Housewives of Atlanta don't have a thing in common. Except that they do.

We'll find out what as we play good week, bad week in the latest TV ratings quiz:

1. Was it a good or bad week for…FlashForward? Good week. ABC got to brag that the Thursday night series is TV's most DVR'd freshman, packing on nearly 2 million viewers over the course of a week. In the latest Nielsen rankings, the show finished 29th, with a 9.9 million viewers (and counting).

2. …The Vampire Diaries? It got picked up for the rest of the season, its reruns are going to replace Melrose Place's on Wednesdays, and its Thursday night rerun last week outdrew all-new episodes of 90210 and Dollhouse, so, yeah, the CW show's good. 

3. …Housewives of Atlanta? Good week. Sorry, make that great week.

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Kevin Mazur/Getty Images; ABC/JAMES SORENSEN; ABC/JAMES SORENSEN; AB

Before he died, Michael Jackson's finances weren't exactly sterling. Now, everything he—or, rather his legacy—touches is gold.

The latest example: Last night's Dancing With the Stars.

The results show scored a Tuesday season-high audience of 14.2 million, ABC said, based on preliminary Nielsen estimates. So, either people really wanted to see swimmer Natalie Coughlin take a dive—or, they really, really wanted to see Derek Hough, et al., do the "Thriller" line dance. 

The show's much-anticipated Jackson tribute drew not only viewers, but Jacksons, too, including mother Katherine, who appeared on stage.

Somehow, CBS' MJ-free NCIS managed to maintain its top-flight status as the night's No. 1 show (20.6 million viewers).

Barbara Nitke/FOX

Should NBC have opted for Lipstick Jungle over Jay Leno? Should the CW have uprooted steady Smallville for The Vampire Diaries? And should Fox have fiddled with Fringe's time slot?

With the first month of the 2009-10 TV season in the books, it's time to look at how the new shows—and the old shows in new time slots—are faring compared to last fall's lineup.

Beware of some surprising answers in the latest ratings quiz.

1. And the winner is…Lipstick Jungle or Jay Leno? Leno. At this point, the comic's averaging about 2 million more people on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. than the late Brooke Shields series was. And, yes, while Leno's ahead because of his big premiere week, big premiere weeks count.

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Carin Baer/FOX

Payback's a plucky Avril Lavigne cover.

Fox's Glee outrated NBC's Law & Order: SVU among the demographically desirable, and outright outdrew everything else in the Peacock's Wednesday night lineup, preliminary Nielsen estimates show.

The jazz-hand jab came days after NBC pulled the plug on talks to feature the Glee cast in next month's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Fortunately, innocent-bystander SVU didn't suffer any karmic damage. Per usual, between it and Glee, SVU enjoyed the bigger overall audience. Both 9 p.m. shows hit seasons high—7.5 million viewers for Glee; 8.8 million for SVU.

CBS' Criminal Minds was the night's most watched show. Which means Joe Mantegna probably won't be getting that invite to sing at NBC's parade, either.

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NBC

How'd that sapphic smooch look on Heroes? What was Southland's Nielsen crime? And why is Fringe falling out of the mainstream?

The answers—and more questions—in the latest TV ratings quiz:

1. So, what did the Claire-Gretchen kiss do for Heroes' ratings? Not much. The audience for last night's show was up, but barely, from last week's show, per preliminary Nielsen estimates. Overall, the show is still running well behind ABC, CBS and Fox's 8 p.m., Monday fare.

2. Is this the end for the show? Just for a major character, apparently. We'll see how that moves the needle. If at all.

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You could call it Jim and Pam versus Jill and Kevin, except Jim and Pam didn't dance, unlike Jill and Kevin.

So, maybe you should just call it Dunder Mifflin gets down. Or tries to.

Last night's long-awaited Halpert-Beasley merger on The Office was attended by 9.1 million, per preliminary Nielsen estimates. The highlight of the hourlong episode, non-Meemaw division, was the spoof of this past summer's YouTube hit, "JK Wedding Entrance Dance."

Or, what you could call a spoof within a spoof.

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