Tv, Tv Ratings | featured news

Take pro football out of the mix, and NBC's ratings problems are glaring.The NFL's Sunday night shootout between the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers was seen by nearly 21.2 million people on NBC, the only prime-time program to top 20 million viewers last week, the Nielsen Co. said.

Disney's ABC averaged the most viewers among broadcast networks across its election-night telecast, but did not surpass the wave that cable's Fox News averaged in prime-time, according to Nielsen.

There is a new ratings king on Thursday. For the first time, the new kid on the Thursday block, CBS' transplant The Big Bang Theory (4.0/13, 12.9 million), ranked as the highest-rated program on the night in 18-49, supplanting perennial winner Grey's Anatomy. The comedy accomplished the feat on its fifth airing on the night, a nice validation of CBS' risky scheduling move.

There were big swings at 10 PM on a otherwise pretty uneventful Wednesday night. After declining for 2 consecutive weeks and last Wednesday logging CBS' lowest-rated original telecast in the hour in 7 years last week, the network's new light legal drama The Defenders (2.5/7, 9.9 million viewers overall) bounced back, up 14% from last week among adults 18-49 and winning its time slot in the demo for the first time.

NBC's Outlaw is a show in a desperate fight for its life, with its production put on a two-week hiatus that will become permanent unless its ratings improve.

A division rivalry showdown between the Jets and Dolphins brought big ratings to NBC, allowing the network to hold off a variety of returning shows on other networks for Sunday night wins.

After the disastrous "Lone Star" premiere left FOX miserable on Monday, a smashing Tuesday launch for "Glee" gave the network something to smile about. The second year sensation crushed CBS' reliable hit "NCIS" in all key young adult demos and carried FOX to a Tuesday win among young viewers, though "NCIS" still won handily overall and gave CBS a Tuesday in overall.

On Tuesday, Judge Marsha Revel sentenced Lindsey Lohan to 90 days in jail. Today we're learning that TMZ.com's live broadcast of the hearing attracted record viewer numbers -- 2.3 million viewers to be exact, most of whom stuck around for 16.3 minutes.

In the U.S., the World Cup is setting all kinds of viewership records, even topping the NBA finals at one point. Thank ESPN, globalization, and the power of social media ...