Adam Rose/FOX UPDATE: Come down from the ledge! Final numbers show NCIS was not hipper than Glee; it was as hip. (Translation: The shows tied for No. 1 in the 18-49 demo.)
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Since when was NCIS hipper than Heather Morris throwing up while throwing down a Ke$ha cover?
Since last night.
Glee got edged by NCIS for bragging rights Tuesday among the demographically desirable, estimates show.
The week before that, it got beat by Modern Family in the weekly demo rankings. And ditto to that scenario for the week before that.
If this looks bad, it's not. Even last night's episode was up over the show's season average.
But here's the thing: So far this month, Glee has been all over the Super Bowl, the Grammys, the Justin Bieber bandwagon, and, as of last night, the Ke-dollar sign-ha "Tik Tok" club.
Shouldn't the show have gotten a big, fat bounce somewhere in there?
Well, let's take a look:
After the Super Bowl, it was up from its previous new Tuesday episode, but only slightly. After the Grammys, and in time for the Bieber fest, it was down. After Bieber, and in time for last night's booze fest, it was up, but only slightly.
The way we figure, either the show's still working off a minor Super Bowl hangover, or it's recovering from a mild case of Bieber fever.
We're tired of piling on the kid, so we'll blame it on the game.
Other TV ratings winners—and losers:
• Selena Gomez: The Wizards of Waverly Place conjured its biggest audience in more than a year (5.1 million). No evidence of a Bieber curse here.
• Blake Griffin: The dude jumped over a car; TNT's coverage of the NBA dunk contest (8.1 milllion viewers) jumped over Jersey Shore (7.6 million) in the just-released weekly cable rankings. Sunday's All-Star Game, also on TNT, was the No. 1 cable show (9.1 million), and scored the hoop contest's biggest audience in eight years.
• Britney Spears: If the MTV premiere of the pop tart's "Hold It Against Me" had been its own show, it would have ranked among cable's elite, with 3.5 million viewers, per Travis Yanan's ratings blog.
• The Game: The BET show drew a bigger audience (4.2 million) than all of NBC's Thursday night comedies, save The Office and Parks and Recreation.
• Survivor: Redemption Island: On one hand, its premiere was the franchise's least-watched ever. On the other hand, its 11.2 million viewers qualified it for a Top 15 finish in the broadcast rankings.
• The Amazing Race: It's been bigger, it's been smaller. The series' 18th season got off to an all-right start (9.2 million).
• $#*! My Dad Says: Its much-anticipated season finale (9.7 million) held onto The Big Bang Theory's demos about as well poorly as Mr. Sunshine held onto Modern Family's.
(Originally published Feb. 23, 2011 at 11:51 a.m. PT)