Tv Ratings | featured news

The third presidential debate drew a lot of viewers on Monday night, but not as many as the two debates that preceded it. 53.9 million people tuned in to watch President Obama and Mitt Romney face off, according to Nielsen. That number made the night, which focused on foreign policy, the lowest-rated of the three debates. As the Washington Post pointed out, there were several things working against the ratings.

Behind every great Two and a Half Men episode, there's a great (and very blond) woman! That's the takeaway from last night's TV ratings, given that Miley Cyrus' first guest appearance on Ashton Kutcher's CBS sitcom lead the show to season-high numbers. Her debut episode brought in 13.6 million viewers and a 4.0 rating in the adults 18-49 demo, a 14 percent jump from last week.

The second, and more combative, presidential debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney attracted an audience of more than 65.6 million people, according to Nielsen. Ratings were up nearly 4% for Tuesday night's debate at Hofstra University in New York, moderated by Candy Crowley, when compared with the second debate in 2008 between Obama and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz).

There was lots of good news on Monday night, as "The Voice" and "Dancing with the Stars" both saw week-to-week growth and helped carry NBC and ABC to their regular Monday split.

The debate reached 67.2 million viewers, an increase of 28 percent over the first debate in the 2008 presidential campaign. The measurement and information company Nielsen said Thursday that 11 networks provided live coverage of the debate.

Phil Orlins knows everything about producing TV in three dimensions. The ESPN producer has captured the undulating greens of Augusta National and the flying motor bikes of the X-Games for ESPN's 3-D channel. But he can only guess how well his shows resonate with viewers. That's because 3-D audiences are so small they can't be measured by Nielsen's rating system.

A daring new documentary that uses scientific analysis to challenge the official 9/11 story became the most popular film on PBS during the week of the 9/11 anniversary, which followed its record-breaking broadcast on Colorado Public Television (CPT12).

After a 17-year winning streak in the ratings, "GMA" overtook "Today" during a couple of weeks last spring. With the exception of two weeks when "Today" broadcast from the London Olympics, the ABC show has won consistently since Curry's dismissal, by margins as much as 800,000 viewers.

NBC is back in the game! The 2012-13 TV season officially kicked off Monday, and NBC — armed this time with “The Voice” — more than doubled its performance, causing its competition to take some major hits.

Katie Couric finished first among new daytime talk shows during its premiere week, early stats suggest. “Katie’s” week, which started big before taking a spill, ended strong Friday with a Jennifer Lopez interview. (Couric got J-Lo to comment on the new “American Idol” judging panel by incorrectly assuring her that Fox had confirmed the names — which Fox did not do until Sunday).