TV Jots

Both Shows Place Twice in Top 10

Not only is The Mentalist‘s star Simon Baker good, but he and his hit CBS show are damn good … that is, if you think landing two spots in the Top 10 for the January 12–18 period is worth something.

The rookie crime procedural attracted 18.069 million viewers and scored the Number 7 spot for its regular Tuesday episode, plus 16.387 million viewers and the Number 9 spot for its special Sunday post-football outing. Not bad.

Fox’s American Idol managed a similar unsurprising feat with its Tuesday and Wednesday installments, which allowed the reality competition to take the Number 2 and 3 spots with 30-plus million viewers.

Number 1 for the week, however, was good old football on CBS. The January 18th AFC Championship game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens drew a couch-potato crowd of 40.645 million viewers, giving it the best overall ratings for the seven-day period. The post-game event came in a respectable fourth, as well, with 25.441 million homebound spectators.

Read on for the remaining Top 10 shows for the January 12–18 week, and note the absence of any other networks besides CBS (eight entries) and Fox (two entries, one show).

1. AFC Championship (CBS) — 40.645 million viewers
2. American Idol, Tuesday (Fox) — 30.424 million viewers
3. American Idol, Wednesday (Fox) — 30.322 million viewers
4. AFC Championship Post Game (CBS) — 25.441 million viewers
5. CSI (CBS) — 24.246 million viewers
6. NCIS (CBS) — 18.62 million viewers
7. The Mentalist (CBS) — 18.069 million viewers
8. Two and a Half Men (CBS) — 17.102 million viewers
9. The Mentalist (CBS) — 16.387 million viewers
10. CSI: Miami (CBS) — 15.83 million viewers