TV Jots

In case you don’t remember or know, Hough is now two for two. She was also named dancing queen last season, along with her Olympic medal-winning, speedskating partner Apolo Ohno. As a result of America’s dance-mania, ABC won the penultimate night of November Sweeps soundly and roundly.

8pm: The top performers in the first hour were CBS’ military crime drama NCIS (17.06 million viewers, 3.3 rating/9 share), which had the most total viewers, and a presentation of the classic Peanuts cartoon A Charlie Brown Christmas (13.57m, 4.6/12), which placed first among viewers aged 18 to 49. A new episode of Bones (9.62m, 3.4/9) on Fox was third on both measures, followed by the first hour of NBC’s The Biggest Loser (6.93m, 2.8/9) at fourth and Beauty and the Geek (2.52m, 1.3/3) on The CW at fifth.

9pm: From 9pm onward, the night belonged to ABC and the fifth-season finale of Dancing with the Stars (24.93m, 6.3/15); the reality show averaged 24.34 million viewers and a 6.0/14 from 9pm to 10pm. Hugh Laurie and House (16.86m, 7.0/16) did their usual thing with the viewers advertisers cater to the most, however, which is why Fox handily beat the dancing juggernaut in the 18–49 demographic. CBS’ The Unit (10.48m, 2.9/7) was a predictable third and the second hour of NBC’s The Biggest Loser (7.57m, 3.5/8) an improved fourth. Meanwhile, a new episode of the CW rookie Reaper (2.26m, 1.1/2) was left way out in the cold at a very distant fifth.

10pm: Dancing (25.52m, 6.8/17) continued its dominance in the final hour of primetime, although NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (12.29m, 4.6/12) put in a good effort for just under half the total viewers and second place. Meanwhile, the freshman CBS drama Cane (6.46m, 1.6/4) languished in last place.

Overall: ABC (21.14m, 5.8/14) trumped the competition, coming in far ahead of next runner-up Fox (13.24m, 5.2/13). CBS (11.33m, 2.6/6) pulled in more viewers overall than NBC, but NBC (8.93m, 3.6/9) did better than CBS among 18–49-year-olds. And, as is common, The CW (2.39m, 1.1/3) trailed behind the other four networks by a huge margin.

DATA EXPLANATION: In the households figure 6.4/11, 6.4 is the household RATING that indicates what average percentage of U.S. households tuned into a particular show (6.4%), while 11 is the household SHARE that refers to what average percentage of televisions in use were tuned into a particular show (11%).

Tags: November Sweeps, ratings, television, tv