Surprise Surprise!! CBS's NCIS is #1 for the 5th week in a row. Check things out......
I don't think there's been a drama series more popular than NCIS since Bonanza, which dominated the airwaves from 1963-1967. I don't see any threats to NCIS with a huge 5 million viewer lead over any other show. It'll probably stay right there, at least until American Idol returns. By then, it will be in repeats & STILL make the "top ten" list.
Dancing With the Stars at #2 & spin-off series NCIS:LA at #3, are in a neck & neck race with only 300,000 viewers dividing them. ABC's Grey's Anatomy comes in at a strong #5.
The ALCS Baseball Playoffs on FOX, helped knock NBC's Sunday Night Football out of the top 5. Once again, it was the only NBC show to make the list. The fact that a repeat of The Mentalist, on CBS, came in at #18, shows just how strong the dramas on CBS really are. NBC is starting to realize what a HUGE mistake they've made by turning their 10pm timeslot over to The Jay Leno Show. The affiliates are extremely upset & this stupid idea has hurt their 11pm news shows. They want it fixed. Now the question is, will they pull the show early? I think I need to say "I told ya so!"
Here is Mr. Nielson's "Top Twenty" list for the week of Oct. 19-25:
1. NCIS CBS 21.3mil
2. Dancing with the Stars (Mon) ABC 16.8 mil
3. NCIS: Los Angeles CBS 16.5mil
4. ALCS Game #6: LA Angels @ NY Yankees FOX 15.5mil
5. Grey's Anatomy ABC 15.1mil
6. Sunday Night Football NBC 15mil
7. Dancing with the Stars Results (Tue) ABC 14.9mil
8. Criminal Minds CBS 14.3mil
9. Desperate Housewives ABC 14.2mil
10. Two & a Half Men CBS 14.1mil
11. The Big Bang Theory CBS 13.5mil
12. The Good Wife CBS 13.3mil
13. CSI: Miami CBS 13.2mil
14. CSI: NY CBS 13mil
15. Survivor: Samoa CBS 12.9mil
16. 60 Minutes CBS 12.5 million
17. ALCS Game #5: NY Yankees @ LA Angels FOX 11.9mil
18. The Mentalist (repeat) CBS 11.8mil
19. House FOX 11.7mil
20. The Amazing Race CBS 11.2mil
Honorable Mentions:
Castle ABC 9.9mil
Biggest Loser NBC 9.3mil
How I Met Your Mother CBS 8.8mil
Modern Family ABC 8.7mil
The Office NBC 8.5mil
Glee FOX 7.2mil
30 Rock NBC 6.7mil
Heroes NBC 5.7mil
Community NBC 5.2mil
Next is the Cable ratings & this list is usually dominated by children's programming, but things are a bit different this week. Sports have taken over the top spots, but the premieres of three shows pushed those kiddie shows down to the bottom. The Jeff Dunham Show at #7, really surprised me. He has alot of fans who tuned in just to see what he had to offer them. I watched it this morning & I'm sorry I did. It was just dumb. but alot of people like dumb, so it'll probably be a hit.
Here is Cable's "Top Ten" for the week of Oct 19-25:
1. NFL Monday Night Football ESPN 13.4mil
2. MLB NLGame #5 Dodgers/Phillies TBS 7.9mil
3. College Football Miss./Fla ESPN 5.6mil
4. MLB NLGame #4 Dodgers/Phillies TBS 5.6mil
5. Monk (Premiere) USA 5.41mil
6. White Collar (Premiere) USA 5.4mil
7. Jeff Dunham Show (Premiere) COMEDY 5.3mil
8. Suite Life on Deck DISNEY 5.1mil
9. Penguins of Madagascar (Sat) NICK 5.1mil
10. NCIS (synd-Wed)) USA 5.1mil
WWE Monday Night RAW on USA dropped to #12 at 4.8 million.
Sons of Anarchy on FX was #22, garnering 3.7 million viewers.
Dexter, on ShowTime, had 1.7 million viewers this Sunday for it's "Trinity Murders" storyline with John Lithgow as Dexter's latest adversary. Everyone tuned in to see if his sister Deb finally got the axe, literally! Sadly, she survived. ShowTime says that not only is this the series highest rating, it's also their highest single telecast since 2004.
Mad Men, on AMC, also garnered 1.7 million viewers on the same night. In this case, viewers got to see the BEST episode of the season (so far) when Don Draper was finally confronted by his wife about his secret past. What makes the difference between these two shows is that DEXTER is only available in 21 million homes on ShowTime, where as, MAD MEN can be seen in over 95 million homes.