Will Real Housewives Be Nothing Without Danielle Staub?

Outta-there New Jersey star says show needs her—do TV ratings prove she's right?

Should Real Housewives of New Jersey be worried? Can Jersey Shore be stopped? And which Jersey boys really ruled last week? 

The answers—and more questions—in the latest TV rating quiz:

1. Danielle Staub tells Us, "I made [RHONJ] successful." Is she—gasp!—right? She ain't wrong. The other Housewives love pummelling Staub, and people love watching Staub get pummelled. Last week's reunion show, featuring Teresa Giudice getting all up in the face of you-know-who, scored the series' biggest-ever audience: 3.9 million viewers. No numbers yet on this past Monday's part two, featuring you-know-who going all JFK with a hair-extension dummy.

2. Will no Staub mean no ratings? Too soon to tell, although The Hills did just fine minus its villains. The only things we know now for sure is: one, RHONJ has been renewed, and, two, New Jersey has no shortage of potential reality stars.

3. When will kids stop watching Jersey Shore? When their parents do? Last week's adventures from the land of Snooki drew more of TV's most-desired grownups, ages 18-49, than any show, broadcast or cable. Overall, Jersey Shore scored yet another series high—its third straight—with 6.5 million viewers.

4. Name New Jersey's biggest cable act of the week. Sheer numbers-wise, it was the Jersey-raised Jonas Brothers, whose Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, scored 8 million viewers. The sequel basically held its own with the original, which came away with nearly 9 million viewers in 2008.

5. Has Project Runway moved to New Jersey? No, but the series keeps surging anyway, up to a season-high 4 million last week.

6. Did the Iraq War end with a whimper or a bang? As a ratings event, a whimper. President Barack Obama's address noting the end of combat was watched by fewer people (a combined 29.2 million) than any of his four other recent prime-time appearances, per Nielsen stats. 

Here's a look at the 10 most-watched, all-new broadcast and cable primetime shows for the week ended Sunday, per Nielsen Media Research:

1. America's Got Talent (Tuesday), 11.5 million
2. America's Got Talent (Wednesday), 10.5 million
3. Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, 8 million
4. Big Brother (Wednesday), 7.9 million
5. The Closer, 7.6 million
6. Big Brother (Sunday), 7.2 million
7. Wipeout (Tuesday), 6.9 million
8. Big Brother (Thursday), 6.5 million
9. Rizzoli & Isles, 6.4 million
10. Bachelor Pad, 6.2 million