Are you shocked? Fox’s American Idol once again filled the top two spots, in terms of viewership, for the week ending March 22. One interesting tidbit about the one-two punch, though: It’s actually the Wednesday night results show that rang in at No. 1, which is notable because it so rarely beats out the Tuesday night performance show at this point in the season. (Why? Probably because something actually happens during the performance shows, compared to the results shows, which just drag out the announcement for an hour.) The results show, which saw former favorite Alexis Grace go home, beat the performance hour by 1.8 million viewers, or 9 percent.
On that front — looking at the difference between the performance and results shows for reality competitions — check out ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, too, which came in at No. 3 and then No. 15. DWTS is just like Idol — usually the results show is below, but not too far below, the performance show. Here, the disparity between the two is huge — with the Monday night performance show snagging a very hefty 21.2 million viewers (which is still nipping away at Idol‘s dominance), yet the results show the next night dropped 40 percent to pull in just 12.7 million viewers. Seems like people care about seeing Lil’ Kim, Denise Richards, and Steve Wozniak shake their booties, but aren’t too concerned with whether they’ll still be hoofing it the next week or not. Compared to last week’s premiere, though, the performance episode of DWTS was only down 1.6 million viewers, or 7 percent, which is a rather slim drop off for a series coming off its highest-rated premiere in history.
Also of note last week was CBS’s 60 Minutes. The long-running news magazine has been buoyed all season by three visits from President Barack Obama, and this week’s sit down with the Commander in Chief was no different. The show popped up at a strong No. 4 with 17 million viewers, making it the series’ most-watched episode in 14 weeks. Obama’s interview also helped timeslot follower The Amazing Race (No. 15) to its highest-rated excursion of the season. Overall, 60 Minutes is averaging 14.9 million viewers this year, up 16 percent from last season.
The rest of the Top 20, naturally, was populated with the usual suspects: CBS’ procedurals, comedies, and reality; ABC’s Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, and newcomer Castle; and Fox’s Monday night lineup of House and 24. The full listing is after the jump.
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1. American Idol Wednesday | Fox | 23.7 million
2. American Idol Tuesday | Fox | 21.9 million
3. Dancing With the Stars Monday | ABC | 21.2 million
4. 60 Minutes | CBS | 17 million
5. NCIS | CBS | 15.8 million
6. The Mentalist | CBS | 15.5 million
7. Desperate Housewives | ABC | 14.7 million
8. Grey’s Anatomy | ABC | 14.6 million
9. Two and a Half Men | CBS | 14.1 million
10. Criminal Minds | CBS | 13.7 million
11. CSI: Miami | CBS | 13.6 million
12. House | Fox | 13.1 million
13. CSI: NY | CBS | 12.8 million
14. Dancing With the Stars Tuesday | ABC | 12.7 million
15. The Amazing Race 14 | CBS | 12.4 million
16. Without a Trace | CBS | 11.9 million
17. Rules of Engagement | CBS | 11.4 million
Cold Case | CBS | 11.4 million
24 | Fox | 11.4 million
20. Castle | ABC | 11 million
More ratings news:
‘Dancing with the Stars’ leads Monday
President Obama boots ’60 Minutes’ to Sunday win, as ‘Kings’ declines
President Obama appearance gives ‘The Tonight Show’ a big ratings boost
March Madness shakes up Thursday
1. American Idol Wednesday | Fox | 23.7 million
2. American Idol Tuesday | Fox | 21.9 million
3. Dancing With the Stars Monday | ABC | 21.2 million
4. 60 Minutes | CBS | 17 million
5. NCIS | CBS | 15.8 million
6. The Mentalist | CBS | 15.5 million
7. Desperate Housewives | ABC | 14.7 million
8. Grey’s Anatomy | ABC | 14.6 million
9. Two and a Half Men | CBS | 14.1 million
10. Criminal Minds | CBS | 13.7 million
11. CSI: Miami | CBS | 13.6 million
12. House | Fox | 13.1 million
13. CSI: NY | CBS | 12.8 million
14. Dancing With the Stars Tuesday | ABC | 12.7 million
15. The Amazing Race 14 | CBS | 12.4 million
16. Without a Trace | CBS | 11.9 million
17. Rules of Engagement | CBS | 11.4 million
Cold Case | CBS | 11.4 million
24 | Fox | 11.4 million
20. Castle | ABC | 11 million
More ratings news:
‘Dancing with the Stars’ leads Monday
President Obama boots ’60 Minutes’ to Sunday win, as ‘Kings’ declines
President Obama appearance gives ‘The Tonight Show’ a big ratings boost
March Madness shakes up Thursday
not a single NBC show at all. What the heck happened to that network?
This person is surprised that Wednesday American Idol beat Tuesday AI. It’s because St. Patrick’s Day was on tuesday….every show was lower than normal
EW will never learn. The results show got higher ratings b/c of Carrie’s return. Homegirl=ratings.
she has a blog in __richsingle.net/user/holy19 87___.i saw it last day
wooo.it’s true …how do you find the website???
I know Lost is safe through it’s conclusion anyway, but it’s a sad comment on the American public that a brilliant, eventually classic series gets lower ratings than all the formulaic procedurals that are virtually indistinguishable from each other.
It’s about time Nathan Fillion was the star of a hit tv show! Sure, it should have been Firefly but all the same…Yay!