There's No More Gold in Them There Hills

Ratings for reality series and MTV drop; NCIS, Sunday Night Football TV's No. 1 shows of week

What was cable's top series of 2008? And, no, the answer "definitely not The Hills" is not acceptable. (Although, true, highly accurate.)

Why could New Mexico be a terrible place to catch American Idol in a couple of months? And how come The Biggest Loser's feeling light as air?

The answers—and more questions—in this week's ratings pop quiz:

1. So which series that definitely wasn't The Hills was cable's most-watched of the calendar year?

Answer: Monday Night Fooball, the sports franchise that you probably didn't know counted as a series because you missed the ESPN press release. 

2. Out of curiousity, what was the year's top cable broadcast (so far)?

Answer: A September MNF matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys scored 18.6 million viewers, Nielsen stats showed, besting the 15.3 million posted by CNN on Election Night. The premiere of Disney's Camp Rock (10.1 million) was the top nonsports, nonelection broadcast.

3. What's up with The Hills?

Answer: Not the ratings. (Thank you very much. We'll be here all week.) Nielsen stats showed last week's penultimate season-four episode averaged 2.5 million viewers, down 1 million from the season opener in August. An after-show special only scored 1.6 million. (Numbers weren't yet known for last night's season finale.) 

4. How's MTV taking The Hills' plunge?

Answer: It's ordering a bunch of new reality series so as to apparently distract itself from a recent 23 percent, Variety-reported plunge in the network's favored 12-34 demographic.

5. Is Heroes finally heating up?  

Answer: No need to buy confetti, but yes, per the numbers crunchers at NBC, last week's episode hit a seven-week high in the 18-49 demo.

6. But, c'mon, aren't Heroes' DVR numbers alone worthy of a confetti toss? 

Answer: Go ahead, knock yourself out. Revel in the fact that the show beefs up by 1.7 million viewers, per NBC, once seven days' worth of playback is added in. And, while you're at it, try very hard to forget that one of the only two shows that boasts more DVR success is Lipstick Jungle—the canceled Lipstick Jungle. 

7. Why's The Biggest Loser living large?  

Answer: Its finale scored more viewers in the 18-49 demo than CBS' Survivor: Gabon did the previous week. (Survivor scored more overall viewers, 13.8 million vs. 11.8 million.)

8. What's wrong with New Mexico?

Answer: Nothing. It's just that, according to Nielsen, the Albuquerque-Santa Fe market is the least prepared of the nation's top TV markets for the digital changeover in February. As of now, 13 percent of all households there would go dark when the conversion occurs. Connecticut's Hartford-New Haven region is the nation's best prepared.

9. Wrestling…really? Still?

Answer: Really. Still. The latest Friday Night Smackdown (3.9 million) delivered MyNetworkTV its biggest ever nightly rating. On cable, USA's WWE Monday Night Raw (5 million for back-to-back episodes) ruled over everything save football.

10.  NCIS...really? Still?

Answer: Really. Still. The CBS series was TV's most-watched show of the week (19.9 million). One of its reruns on USA was cable's biggest hourlong show (4.1 million). NBC's Sunday Night Football represented for non-NCIS fans as TV's highest-rated show in the 18-49 demo.