TV Patrol: Ratings!

Not since Seinfeld‘s finale in 1998, have so many tuned in to watch the same TV show. (*except a Super Bowl*) Over 57 million tuned in to see if Brett Favre & his new team, the Minnesota Vikings would beat the underdogs, the New Orleans Saints & Brett would head to the Super Bowl one more time. This made it #1 in the ratings for the week. In a tense & exciting game, that went into overtime, the Saints sent Brett packing, winning 31-28 with a 40-yard field goal kicked straight through the goal posts. Hard to believe that only 4 years ago New Orlean’s Super Dome housed thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims, it’s roof torn & leaking & it’s people suffering without help. It makes the Saint’s victory even sweeter, don’t ya think. Now it’s on to the Super Bowl, to take on the Indianapolis Colts.

It seems that Charlie Sheen has not suffered the fate of other celebrities who have “gone bad” in their personal lives. His Two & a Half Men, on CBS, is doing extremely well, in spite of all the scandals both he & co-star Jon Cryer, have going on. With Cryer’s wife hiring a hitman to “rub him out” & Sheen’s Christmas Eve knife-welding beating of his umpteenth wife, you’d think people would be outraged & maybe they are. I know Nancy Grace is. But it just doesn’t stop them from watching their show. It’s #5 this week, with 16+ million tuning in. It was #5 last week also, with 17+ million viewers. Some say it’s because they aren’t shocked by Charlie’s personal scandals. That he’s been a bad boy for a long time & this is just more of the same. Hanes underwear has cancelled Charlie’s ads with Michael Jordan, but he still makes $1 million an episode, so I don’t think it’s gonna hurt him financially. Is it because he’s a good old white boy? Hmmmmm…. maybe Nancy Grace will get to the bottom of it all. Until then, I’ll still watch the show.

FOX is dominating the ratings war with American Idol auditions & football taking the top spots. Just wait till Ellen finally shows up. Her first night will definitely be a ratings bonanza for FOX. Don’t expect to see her until the second week of February, when the live shows begin. Mark Valley’s new series, Human Target, also on FOX, premiered at #18. I didn’t see it, so I don’t know if it will keep it up in the ratings. At #20, we have NBC’s only show on the list, The Biggest Loser, kind of appropriate for the network. It should be their slogan!

This is Mr. Nielson’s “Top Twenty” list for the week of Jan. 18-24:

1. NFC Play-off Game: Vikings/Saints FOX 57.9 million
2. American Idol (Wed.) FOX 26.9 million
3. American Idol (Tue.) FOX 26.4 million
4. NFL Post-Game Report FOX 23.8 million
5. Two & a Half Men CBS 16.3 million
6. The Big Bang Theory CBS 16.3 million
7. Criminal Minds CBS 14.9 million
8. The Mentalist CBS 14.6 million
9. CSI CBS 14.3 million
10. NCIS (repeat) CBS 14.2 million
11. CSI: NY CBS 13.5 million
12. CSI: Miami CBS 13.2 million
13. Grey’s Anatomy ABC 12.7 million
14. NCIS: LA (repeat) CBS 12.3 million
15. Bones FOX 12 million
16. 24 (premiere) FOX 11.1 million
17. The Bachelor ABC 10.7 million
18. Human Target (premiere) FOX 10.5 million
19. How I Met Your Mother CBS 10.4 million
20. The Biggest Loser NBC 9.9 million
Modern Family, on ABC came in at #21 with 5.9 million.

Top Ten Primetime Cable Shows for Jan. 11-17:

1. ICarly (Mon.) NICK 11.2 million
2. Hannity (Tue.) FOXN 6.8 million
3. Big Time Rush (Mon.) NICK 6.8 million
4. On The Record (Tue.) FOXN 6.4 million
5. Wizards of Waverly Place (Fri.) DISNEY 6.2 million
6. Pregnancy Pact (Sat.) LIFE 5.9 million
7. WWE RAW (Mon. 10pm) 5.4 million
8. Burn Notice USA 5.4 million
9. Suite Life on Deck (Fri.) DISNEY 5.2 million
10. The O’Reilly Factor (Tue.) FOXN 5.2 million
Jersey Shore, on MTV, came in at #14 with 4.8 million.

That’s it for this week. Thanks for watching….
love
chooch