Here are the weekly TV ratings, by number of viewers.
Not many surprises this week, if any at all (maybe a slight surprise that Dancing with the Stars was broken up by the season finale of CSI), so I thought I'd open up the comments for you to answer two questions. One, what show do you watch that isn't on this list and surprises you that more people don't watch it? And two, what show on here makes you shake your head and say "how they hell can so many people watch that?!"
1. American Idol - Weds (FOX)
2. American Idol - Tues (FOX)
4. CSI (CBS)
5. Dancing with the Stars - Tues (ABC)
6. Desperate Housewives (ABC)
7. Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
8. NCIS (CBS)
9. House (FOX)
10. Without A Trace (CBS)
11. CSI: Miami (CBS)
12. Two and a Half Men (CBS)
13. Criminal Minds (CBS)
14. CSI: NY (CBS)
15. Academy of Country Music Awards (CBS)
16. Law and Order: SVU (NBC)
17. Extreme Makeover (ABC)
18. Hell's Kitchen (FOX)
19. 60 Minutes (CBS)
20. Lost (ABC)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-20-2008 @ 7:27PM
Ryan said...
My two answers are sort of related.
I watch HIMYM and I really don't get why not a lot more people watch it and yet Two and a Half Men is consistently in the Top 20. I'm not really knocking 2 1/2 Men, but it is pretty crazy how it's the ONLY half hour show listed this week. Why aren't any other sitcoms getting that kind of love?
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5-21-2008 @ 12:47AM
Man said...
I watch both sitcoms and as mildly smiled at How I Met Your Mother and laughed out loud at Two and a Half Men I think it is obvious. Also Big Bang Theory is funny.
5-20-2008 @ 7:40PM
Cyantre said...
American Idol makes me cringe seeing it in the top spot week after week. I can't believe that so many people still watch that show.
Reply
5-20-2008 @ 7:51PM
What the Frack?! said...
I've just started watching HIMYM and I like it. 2.5 Men, not so much. I'm sad Lost is so low.
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5-20-2008 @ 9:32PM
Matt said...
Shocked Lost is so low. Don't understand why Reaper isn't on there, it's much more billiant than any of the CSI shows. I've never really followed CSI 'cause I've always been a huge SVU fan, CSI just never interested me, don't get the appeal. The Law & Order franchise always seemed more realistic vs CSI seeming more stylized.
Wasn't Samantha Who? on this week too? Why don't people watch that? It's better written and acted than 2.5 men.
I'll never understand the appeal of Dancing with the Stars. How it's up so high and why people even watch it is beyond me. Most of those people aren't even stars, they're has beens, and if people like this so much, why don't they like the VH1 Celebreality shows equally? Those are full of hasbeen stars too.
I don't know why Hells Kitchen is on there, I've always felt uncomfortable watching that show because I think Ramsey crosses the line of tv mean vs really mean. Extreme Makeover, while doing a good thing for a needy family, is more about exploiting the current weeks family's troubles for ratings. This show has never seemed as something that honestly tries to be helpful, instead it's seemed as a show that uses that helpfulness as a means to a rating$ end.
Television is screwed up right now, hopefully when the fall season starts and the strikes aftermath has settled down, it'll get back to a good place.
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5-20-2008 @ 11:05PM
Bill G said...
More broadcast ratings detail for those interested:
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/05/20/american-idol-dancing-with-the-stars-and-csi-lead-weekly-nielsen-ratings/3846
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5-21-2008 @ 12:46AM
tahoejeff said...
i don't understand why 2.5 men isn't higher. my wife and i laugh nonstop for the 20 minutes that show is on.
where is Medium? we never miss an episode of that. the same goes for ghost whisperer and moonlight.
we don't watch any of the reality shows, and wonder how the h*ll they attract so many people.
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5-21-2008 @ 4:51AM
MERVE-THE-PERVE said...
Nielsen's numbers are fraudulent. They don't measure millions of homes, just 10,000. So I guess if most of the Nielsen families watch one show and not one other person in America watches it, then its automatically a great show and is watched by 20-30 million and is # 1? That's not right. And all the networks are just trying to copy the top shows and cater to the Nielsen families instead to all of us because all that matters is if a majority of those 10,000 people like the show or not, not the 200,000,000 rest of us. I could really care less about what shows Nielsen says are the tops, I'll bet the real top 20 looks nothing like the top 20 they always put out there.
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5-21-2008 @ 4:51AM
MERVE-THE-PERVE said...
Nielsen's numbers are fraudulent. They don't measure millions of homes, just 10,000. So I guess if most of the Nielsen families watch one show and not one other person in America watches it, then its automatically a great show and is watched by 20-30 million and is # 1? That's not right. And all the networks are just trying to copy the top shows and cater to the Nielsen families instead to all of us because all that matters is if a majority of those 10,000 people like the show or not, not the 200,000,000 rest of us. I could really care less about what shows Nielsen says are the tops, I'll bet the real top 20 looks nothing like the top 20 they always put out there.
Reply
5-21-2008 @ 10:43AM
hessi said...
Merve, while I think the people behind the Nielsen Ratings put a lot of thought and statistic knowledge into their grouping, I am surprised by the numbers, too.
Just take a look at the Seeding numbers on torrent for all this shows, the order is completely different. Lost is always on #1, other shows, like Reaper, House, Grey's etc. have a (mostly) deserved top spot, as well.
5-21-2008 @ 12:26PM
heinlein said...
Merve, I don't think that the Nielsen is trying to give the impression that they are measuring millions of people. Look at any political opinion poll, they too are only asking a few thousands and not millions. And while I haven't made any calculation about it, 10'000 seems reasonable in my opinion, at least for network TV, or at least the big four. You can either watch any of the five or what channels or do something else. Six options. CW's viewers might be a bit low, but can't image that to be true for the big four. (The lower percentage of the sample that chooses an option, the higher relative margin error, and each viewer will have a biger influence on the result).
There are two questions that I think are more important than the number:
1. Wheither the Nielsen sample is really chosen so that they can be said to represent the nation.
2. To what degree that the Nielsen households will change, or fiddle the truth, about their viewing habit.
Both these questions can affect the bias of the sample.
About measuring torrents, first they are a world wide sample, not a US sample, and US-centric reality shows, like Dancing With The Stars, will probbly have a lower worldwide appeal, since they don't get the scandalous headlines or coffee-break talks elsewhere, and can only be affected be US viewers. Also many other nations have their own versions of these shows. Another thing is that people that use torrents (including me) are probably more geeky and computer savvy than the population in general, thus also biased. A third thing is that serialized shows will probably get higher numbers because people doesn't want to miss an episode, so that some people will only download from a torrent if they miss a particuar episode of say Lost, but won't bother to download a missed episode of say CSI.