During the week ending Nov. 29, when ABC’s reality juggernaut Dancing with the Stars crowned its big winner (that’d be Donny Osmond), the series also finally landed itself on top for the first time this season. The Monday performance episode was the top audience-draw of the week on the broadcast networks, pulling in 20.4 million pairs of eyes—right above that of usual top show, CBS’ NCIS, which attracted 20.3 million viewers. Dancing‘s results episode on Tuesday—the bloated, two-hour event that actually awarded Osmond the mirrored trophy—came in at No. 3 with 19.3 million viewers.
Rounding out the Top 5 were NBC’s always-strong Sunday Night Football at No. 4 with 19.2 million viewers and CBS’ freshman spin-off NCIS: Los Angeles at No. 5 with 17.2 million viewers.
Among the rest of the shows in the Top 20, there were only two truly interesting entries. First is ABC’s new docu-reality series Find My Family, which had a strong premiere with 12.8 million viewers to tie its network sibling Desperate Housewives for the No. 11 spot. A little bit lower in the Top 20, you can tell we’re headed toward the holidays, as CBS’ new Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, A Dog Named Christmas, made its debut at No. 15 with 12.4 million viewers. Definitely not a bad showing for a TV movie on a network these days. The rest of the Top 20 is loaded with comedies (The Big Bang Theory) and procedurals (Criminal Minds) on CBS, Fox’s House, and ABC’s Castle, among other usual suspects.
The rest of the Top 20—complete with viewership totals—can be found after the jump.
1. Dancing with the Stars Monday | ABC | 20.4 million
2. NCIS | CBS | 20.3 million
3. Dancing with the Stars Tuesday | ABC | 19.3 million
4. Sunday Night Football | NBC | 19.2 million
5. NCIS: Los Angeles | CBS | 17.2 million
6. 60 Minutes | CBS | 14.4 million
7. The Big Bang Theory | CBS | 14.1 million
8. Two and a Half Men | CBS | 13.9 million
9. Criminal Minds | CBS | 13.6 million
10. CSI: Miami | CBS | 13.2 million
11. Desperate Housewives | ABC | 12.8 million
(tie) 11. Find My Family | ABC | 12.8 million
13. CSI: NY | CBS | 12.7 million
14. The Good Wife | CBS | 12.5 million
15. A Dog Named Christmas | CBS | 12.4 million
16. House | Fox | 12.0 million
17. The Amazing Race 15 | CBS | 11.6 million
18. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition | ABC | 10.4 million
19. Castle | ABC | 10.3 million
20. Survivor: Samoa | CBS | 9.9 million
Source: Nielsen
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Yeah Castle is still in the top 20 and even moved up a slot! Good news!
Big Bang Theory received a better rating than its lead-in Two and a Half Men. That is great news for the future of Big Bang Theory which is my new favorite show.
Criminal Minds was so good last week. And I’m happy to see Castle still doing well.
What a shame DWTS only pulled in 40 million viewers last week. Seriously, after 9 seasons that is some kind of amazing! And Wow, Wow, for Castle. Remember when that little crime drama was struggling for viewers. I wish Theforgotten would pull a Castle and grow, grow, grow.
“Castle” shows that networks shouldn’t be so quick to cancel.