Zoey 101 is holding up well in its fourth trimester.
Sorry, its fourth season.
The Nick comedy, starring the with-child Jamie Lynn Spears, came back big Sunday night, averaging 5.9 million viewers for back-to-back new episodes.
Only another tween draw, the new Disney Channel movie Minutemen, was bigger in all of cable. It averaged 6.5 million for its Friday night premiere.
Zoey 101 schooled 5.7 million with its first episode, and 6 million with its second. The numbers are the show's best premiere ones yet.
Interest in Zoey 101 has zoomed in recent weeks, and not just because its titular heroine faced separation from her California boarding-school friends.
Spears' surprise pregnancy, to her young fans, if not to the 16-year-old herself, raised the show's profile—and ratings. Earlier this month, a record 7.3 million tuned in for its third-season cliffhanger.
Sunday marked the beginning of the end of the series, which was set to call it a run after four seasons—even before the Spears news.
The show's swan-song season is completed and in the can, and presumably will feature no shots of Zoey Brooks standing behind potted plants.
Here are last week's other rating highlights:
- The time-traveling Minutemen averaged a combined 14.2 million from three weekend showings.
- The Miss America nosedive is over. For the first time in four years, the remade pageant saw ratings go up—it averaged 3.6 million in its TLC premiere, compared to 2.4 million on CMT last year. The performance was the show's best since being banished to cable in 2006.
- Audiences weren't exactly ecstatic to see the return of the star-studded award show. TNT's ratings for Sunday's SAG Awards (3.3 million) were down a touch from last year.
- The SAGs also aired on TBS, which averaged 2.8 million. Add the TNT and TBS numbers together, and the SAGs drew almost exactly the same number of viewers as NBC's Golden Globes "announcement" special. Which isn't really a compliment.
- All things considered, E!'s Live from the Red Carpet SAG special did well, averaging 1.3 million, or just 2 million fewer than the actual show itself on TNT. (E! Online is a division of E! Entertainment Television.)
- Forget award shows. Apocalyptic History Channel specials (see: Life After People, 5.4 million viewers) are where it's at!
- The Democratic presidential debate on CNN (4.9 million) beat the Republican presidential debate on MSNBC (2.6 million), giving John Edwards his first victory of primary season.
- Tuesday's American Idol (first place, 29.3 million) beat Wednesday's American Idol (second place, 27.1 million); Fox was the winner on both nights.
- The moment of truth for Fox's The Moment of Truth (third place, 23 million) will come the first time it doesn't air after Idol.
- A stat for the strike-plagued season: Fox's House (sixth place, 13.9 million) was the most watched rerun.
- NBC's Law & Order: SVU (10th place, 13 million) was the only first-run scripted show to crack the top 10.
- To all the viewers abandoning Fox's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (29th place, 8.7 million) and sticking with NBC's Deal or No Deal (two top 10 finishes): Thanks so much for encouraging the networks to get a deal done with striking writers.
- NBC's Medium (22nd place, 10 million) and Law & Order (20th place, 10.3 million) are doing okay for all-new scripted shows. As is the CW's One Tree Hill (102nd place, 3 million). ABC's Carpoolers (70th place, 4.9 million) and Big Shots (72nd place, 4.9 million) aren't.
- "From its first half-hour to its fourth, Biggest Loser [25th place, 9 million] gained...," an inconsiderate NBC said.
Overall, it was Fox's week, as is every week in which Idol airs. It was the most watched network, averaging 11.7 million viewers, and the highest rated one among 18- to 49-year-olds.
CBS' reruns gave it a second-place finish in total viewers (9.3 million); NBC's reality-heavy lineup gave it a second-place finish in young adults.
ABC (6.8 million) didn't have a single show in the top 20.
In cable, USA (3 million) was the top prime-time network, followed by Disney Channel (2.8 million) and TBS (2.2 million).
Among narrowly defined broadcast networks, the CW (2.1 million) held off Telemundo (1.2 million).
Here's a look at the 10 most watched broadcast network prime-time shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:
1. American Idol (Tuesday), Fox, 29.3 million viewers
2. American Idol (Wednesday), Fox, 27.1 million viewers
3. The Moment of Truth, Fox, 23 million viewers
4. 60 Minutes, CBS, 14.5 million viewers
5. Deal or No Deal (Monday), NBC, 14.2 million viewers
6. House, Fox, 13.9 million viewers
7. Deal or No Deal (Wednesday), NBC, 13.7 million viewers
8. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, ABC, 13.5 million viewers
9. CSI, CBS, 13.3 million viewers
10. Law & Order: SVU, NBC, 13 million viewers