ABC/ADAM LARKEYCan the good times keep going for Dancing With the Stars? Castle? Tina Fey?
The answers—and more questions about Chuck and The Big Bang Theory—in the latest TV ratings quiz:
1. What does DWTS have to worry about? On one hand, nothing. For the second time, the franchise topped American Idol as TV's most-watched entertainment show in the weekly Nielsen rankings. On the other hand…
2. On the other hand—what? The show's on fire! Why, Kate Gosselin doesn't even move like a wooden soldier anymore! What could possibly go wrong? Perhaps just that: Gosselin doesn't move like a wooden soldier anymore. If you subscribe to the American Idol Principle of Competency, which holds that once a competition show's weakest link stops being outrageously awful and starts being sorta all right, the public loses interest and takes their votes elsewhere (see: Sanjaya, Scott Savol, etc.), then Gosselin's a goner tonight—and DWTS is minus one ratings-drawing lightning rod.
3. True or false: All those Tom Bergeron-Castle ads were aired in vain. False. Last night's Bergeron-graced Castle (maybe you heard?) beat CSI: Miami—again. Now, as to whether all those ads were a pain…
4. Is there anything bigger than Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live? Strangely, yeah. Saturday's show featuring the SNL alum turned guest host was big, but this season's ones with Charles Barkley and Jennifer Lopez were bigger. Maybe the Justin Bieber jinx was at play again?
5. Is there anything bigger than Tiger Woods at the Masters? With due respect to Phil Mickelson, nope. CBS says the ratings for Sunday's final round were up 36 percent from last year and were the highest since 2001…when Woods was also the draw.
6. Complete this sentence: Chuck won Watch With Kristin's Save Our Show campaign and then went out and ______. Aired a rerun. So no ratings lessons to be learned here. The bubble show returns to make its case for renewal starting April 26.
7. What's the good news for CBS about its Charlie Sheen situation? Last night The Big Bang Theory, not Two and a Half Men, was its top-rated show among all-important young adults.
8. Life Unexpected's season finale: hit or miss? Well, it seems a stretch to say last night's episode was a hit, but it definitely wasn't a miss. The bubble show was up a tick from last week's episode to an estimated 1.8 million viewers, about the same as the renewed Gossip Girl, albeit minus some of the latter's chick-magnet powers.
9. With divorce headlines swirling, how has Tori Spelling consoled herself? With the biggest-ever season opener for Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood: 816,000 cable viewers.
10. Define a successful series premiere. You premiere one day, get picked up for a second season the next. Just like HBO's Treme. The post-Katrina drama opened Sunday with 1.4 million viewers. Overall, the new Disney tween show Good Luck Charlie was the week's most-watched cable comedy or drama (3.8 million).
Here's a look at the top 10 broadcast network shows for the week ended Sunday, per Nielsen Media Research:
- NCAA Men's Basketball Championship (Butler vs. Duke), 23.9 million
- Dancing With the Stars (Monday), 21.2 million
- American Idol (Tuesday), 20.8 million
- American Idol (Wednesday), 20.2 million
- NCIS, 16.4 million
- The Mentalist, 16.3 million
- 60 Minutes, 15 million
- CSI, 15 million
- Undercover Boss, 14.7 million
- NCIS: Los Angeles, 13.8 million
________
Get our blow-by-blow on Kate Gosselin's "minibreakthrough" and the rest of last night's DWTS action right here.