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Glee Got Beat by What…?!

by Joal Ryan Wed., Dec. 1, 2010 11:46 AM PST

Glee, Matthew Morrison, Jayma Mays Adam Rose/FOX

What's more surprising than last night's Glee?

What beat down last night's Glee.

Hint: It glows.

MORE: You're really gonna want to read this Glee recap

You are correct if you said Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

In an antler-to-Evita battle last night, the holiday special outdrew Glee, 12 million estimated viewers to 11.6 million.

OK, yes, Glee owned the 18-49 demo. And, OK, yes, Glee always loses the total-viewer battle to CBS shows. But NCIS is NCIS; Rudolph is, like, a billion years old.

Make that, a timeless billion years old.

More ratings results:

• A week after the ratings on Sarah Palin's new TLC show fell, they rose (to 3.5 million viewers). So, yes, reports of the Mama Grizzly's Nielsen demise were premature.

• After two outings, the biggest audience Skating With the Stars has had was the half-hour right after the top-rated Dancing With the Stars finale (24.2 million viewers). Minus any Bristol Palin power, Monday's episode averaged just 6 million (down from 9.4 million).

• Sunday's Walking Dead scared up a new season high (5.6 million), and wound up the week's most-watched cable series. Other cable stand-outs: the Soul Train Awards (3.6 million); Sons of Anarchy (3.3 million); and, The Real Housewives of Atlanta (3.2 million).

• If you're not a football player, you're a nobody on Thanksgiving—no matter how big your name. Just ask Taylor Swift (4.4 million for the NBC turkey-day special, Speak Now), and Beyoncé (4.2 million for the ABC turkey-day special, I Am…Yours).

Here were the week's 10 most-watched (non-football) shows among demographically desirable 18-49 year-olds, per the just-released Nielsen Media Research broadcast rankings: 

  1. Dancing With the Stars (Tuesday) (7 million demo viewers; 24.2 million overall viewers)
  2. Dancing With the Stars (Monday) (6.5 million demo viewers; 23.7 million overall viewers)
  3. Two and a Half Men (5.9 million demo viewers; 14.4 million overall viewers)
  4. The Simpsons (5.4 million demo viewers; 9.4 million overall viewers)
  5. Glee (5.3 million demo viewers; 10.4 million overall viewers)
  6. Mike & Molly (5.2 million demo viewers; 12.9 million overall viewers)
  7. NCIS (5.1 million demo viewers; 18.8 million overall viewers)
  8. Modern Family (4.9 million demo viewers; 10.6 million overall viewers)
  9. How I Met Your Mother (4.5 million demo viewers; 8.7 million overall viewers)
  10. The Cleveland Show (4.4 million demo viewers; 7.4 million overall viewers)

CLICK: The latest spoiler chat on Vampire Diaries, Smallville and, yes, Glee

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