Idiot Box Update: December 18
Jack Black heads to The Office, Fishburne shines on CSI and football rules the ratings.
Here's a list of the top 20 prime-time shows by viewership numbers, compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Dec. 8-14:
1. "Sunday Night Football: N.Y. Giants vs. Dallas," NBC, 23.05 million viewers.
2. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 20.86 million viewers.
3. "60 Minutes," CBS, 18.8 million viewers.
4. "Two And a Half Men," CBS, 15.59 million viewers.
5. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 14.68 million viewers.
6. "Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick," NBC, 14.2 million viewers.
7. "House," Fox, 14.05 million viewers.
8. "CSI: Miami," CBS, 13.79 million viewers.
9. "Survivor: Gabon Finale," CBS, 13.77 million viewers.
10. "The Mentalist," CBS, 13.7 million viewers.
11. "NCIS," CBS, 13.66 million viewers.
12. "Eleventh Hour," CBS, 13.4 million viewers.
13. "CSI: NY," CBS, 13.33 million viewers.
14. "Survivor: Gabon," CBS, 13.05 million viewers.
15. "Survivor: Gabon Reunion," CBS, 11.74 million viewers.
16. "A Charlie Brown Christmas," ABC, 11.02 million viewers.
17. "Law And Order: SVU," NBC, 11.02 million viewers.
18. "Football Night in America Part 3," NBC, 10.83 million viewers.
19. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 10.5 million viewers.
20. "How I Met Your Mother," CBS, 10.49 million viewers.
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Nielsen got on board to announce the most-watched programs of 2008. As expected, sports dominated the individual telecasts, with football and the summer Olympics taking nine of the top 10 spots. The only non-sports event was the Academy Awards.
Also included were the top 10 "timeshifted" programs, which are rated by the percentage increase of shows watched on digital video recorders such as TiVo.
The top 10 lists in both categories are listed below, with the viewership numbers following the show title.
Regularly Scheduled Programming
Show / Network / Rating
1 American Idol Tuesday Fox 15.5
2 American Idol Wednesday Fox 15.3
3 Dancing With the Stars ABC 12.3
4 Dancing With the Stars Results ABC 11.4
5 Mentalist CBS 10.0
5 NBC Sunday Night Football NBC 10.0
7 CSI CBS 8.1
8 NCIS CBS 8.0
9 60 Minutes CBS 7.6
9 Survivor: Gabon CBS 7.6
Single Telecast
Event / Network / Date / Rating
1 Fox Super Bowl XLIII Fox 02/03/2008 43.1
2 Fox Super Bowl Post Game Fox 02/03/2008 30.1
3 Fox NFC Championship Fox 01/20/2008 29.0
4 Summer Olympics NBC 08/12/2008 20.0
5 Fox NFC Playoff Fox 01/13/2008 18.8
5 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony NBC 08/08/2008 18.8
7 Academy Awards ABC 02/24/2008 18.7
8 Summer Olympics NBC 08/10/2008 18.1
9 AFC Divisional Playoff CBS 01/12/2008 17.9
9 Summer Olympics NBC 08/14/2008 17.9
"American Idol" is, sadly, America's most watched television series. It was also the most time-shifted prime-time TV program in the United States in 2008, ratings tracker The Nielsen Company said on Tuesday.
Four million viewers watched the Fox network's "American Idol" in the seven days following the initial episodes, which aired two nights each week. The numbers defy the concept that live competition and topical programs are what advertisers call "digital video recorder (DVR) proof".
The TV industry is suffering hard from new digital technology that allows Americans to tape their shows, skipping through the mindless but expensive commercials. Networks and advertisers believed that reality competition shows were relatively immune to the time-shifting trend. NBC even said last week that "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno's move to primetime next year would be "somewhat DVR-proof" because the program revolves around news and jokes of the day. But that's crap, because people know how to use TiVo, and know what shows are important enough to watch on short notice. Jay Leno does not fall into that category.
Dexter's big season-finale featured zero tragic deaths, scant bloodshed... and Dexter Morgan got married. Fans didn't like it, and neither did we. What's next season gonna be like? Laugh tracks and softcore murder? It may be a bit early to say so, but it appears that our dear Mr. Morgan has jumped the shark.
Morpheus, er, Laurence Fishburne's series debut on "CSI" was a big success, scoring 20.6 million viewers. That's up more than 3 million from the previous week.
Jack Black will be guest-starring in an hourlong episode of "The Office," slated to air after the Super Bowl. The Feb. 1 episode, titled "Stress Relief," will follow the office employees as they try to secretly watch a bootleg movie at work. It's unclear how Black will factor in, but the guy's comic gold, and pairing him up with one of the best sitcoms on television can only be a good thing. Love those hourlongs.
John Stamos has officially given up on his career-defibrillator "semi-remake" of Full House. Cue audience sobs.
"We couldn't make the deal," says the source, who is close to the project. "It's completely dead right now."
Earlier this week, Candace Cameron Bure (D.J. Tanner) told OK! magazine: "John Stamos has actually been working on a semi-remake of "Full House." I know it would involve me and Jodie [Sweetin]...We would revive our characters but today as young women." Sounds really amazing, right? I mean, who wouldn't just love to see Kimmy Gibbler back in action? That weird little hot bitch is probably a dominatrix by now.
In other remake news, the CW doesn't seem to have learned its lesson from the new 90210, and is planning to relaunch a new version of "Melrose Place." Being that the first series was a spin-off itself, and sucked infected donkey balls at that, the CW deserves whatever nightmarish fate that comes its way.
The Walt Disney Co and Media-One Holdings Ltd has unveiled plans to launch a nationwide, free-to-air television channel in Russia in 2009. It will be populated by Disney Channel and locally produced programing, with
Disney taking a 49 percent stake in the joint venture and provide cash and programing as well as expertise in content acquisition and marketing to kids and families.
The deal still is awaiting regulatory approval from Russia, which requires foreign investors to have Russian partners. Russia's regulatory environment for TV is similar to that of western European countries. However, it shouldn't be much trouble, given that Disney already operates local retail, licensing, theatrical distribution, mobile and Internet businesses in Russia.
Sharon Osbourne, host of "Rock of Love Charm School," apparently showed her true colors Saturday when she allegedly attacked a contestant on the VH1 show, scratching her face and pulling her hair during a reunion taping.
E! News has confirmed that a police investigation has been launched."We know a battery incident is alleged to have occurred on a taping of a reality show Sharon Osbourne hosts," said Los Angeles police spokesman Ben Llewellyn. Llewellyn would not confirm whether a police report had been filed.
Asked if she planned to comment, Osbourne rep Nicole Perna said, "We do not."
Megan Hauserman, 26, commented on camera that Osbourne was only famous for managing her husband Ozzy, whom Hauserman dubbed "a brain-dead rock star." Truth hurts, evidently. Hauserman is a multiple reality-show contestant and previous winner on "Beauty and the Geek." She was booted from Charm School after four episodes for kicking a fellow contestant.
Ironically, Osbourne's final words before kicking Hauserman off the show may come back to haunt the host: "The one thing I cannot stand is violence."
