Emmitt Dances to Top of Ratings

So it looks as if the entire state of Texas turned out to watch football favorite Emmitt Smith shimmy his way to a Dancing with the Stars win this season. 

The final Wednesday results show of the ABC hit's third season, during which Smith beat out Mario Lopez for the prestigious mirrored disco ball (and bragging rights, of course), was the most-watched show for the week ended Sunday, with Tuesday's performance installment coming in a close second, according to Nielsen Media Research rankings. 

Although it's funny to think that ABC's secret ratings weapon comes in the form of tangos, tight pants and dance-floor drama, Dancing with the Stars was packing enough heat last week (27.5 million viewers on Wednesday, 26.8 million on Tuesday) to put CSI in its place.  

Third place, that is. The crime procedural came in third to ABC's ballroom blitz—but it still helped make CBS the most-watched network for the ninth consecutive week, winning the 9 p.m. Thursday battle versus Grey's Anatomy by more than 3 million viewers (24.1 million to 20.9 million) and having its best night of the season in total viewers.  

CSI: Miami aided the Eye network's cause quite a bit, pulling in 18.8 million viewers. And Criminal Minds' 16.5 million-strong audience helped, too. Now that ABC's Lost is on hiatus, the criminal-minded drama is free to win its time period in total viewership, the 18-49 demographic and every other demo that Nielsen Media Research bothers to monitor. (And it did.) 

CBS averaged 13.4 million viewers for the week, followed by ABC (12.96 million), NBC (10.1 million) and Fox, aka the "Can't Wait for Idol to Come Back Network" (6.6 million).  

ABC won the 18-49 demo for the eighth time this season, buoyed by Grey's Anatomy and the 11.4 million pairs of 18-49-year-old eyes.  

Once again, comedies failed to crack the top 10 in the demo or in total viewers, with Two and a Half Men coming closest in the number-12 spot (15.8 million). Meanwhile, 30 Rock (77th place) continued its descent into that good night, pulling in only 5.2 million in its new regular-ish Thursday timeslot. (NBC aired a 40-minute episode that started at 9:20 p.m.)

Shark, Heroes, Brothers & Sisters and Ugly Betty were still the only new shows of the season to crack the top 25. 

Here are some other notable moments from the week in ratings:

• Michael Richards' mea culpa for launching a slew of racial slurs at a comedy club audience gave CBS a rare late-night win over NBC on Monday. The former Seinfeld star's apología via satellite, prompted by guest Jerry Seinfeld, garnered the Late Show with David Letterman its highest metered-market ratings in a year, besting the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and leading The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson to tie with Late Night with Conan O'Brien.  
• Everyone loves an underdog. Fifty-five percent more people tuned in to watch the previously undefeated Indianapolis Colts lose to the Dallas Cowboys on CBS than showed up for NBC's Sunday Night Football match-up pitting San Diego against Denver. CBS' postgame show pulled in 23.8 million pigskin fans.
• 3.9 million viewers saw the return of Reba (back-to-back new episodes in the 7-8 p.m. slot), giving the still-green CW network its best Sunday to date and providing a nifty launching pad for 7th Heaven. A season-high 4.5 million people caught up with the Camden family this weekend.
• Apparently a lot of people wanted to know what the heck ex-New York Jets star Joe Namath was thinking when he told sportscaster Suzy Kolber that he wanted to kiss her back in 2003—19.2 million people tuned in to 60 Minutes, which aired a feature on the NFL great.

Here's a look at the 10 most-watched prime-time shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:

1. Dancing with the Stars (Wednesday), ABC, 27.5 million viewers
2. Dancing with the Stars (Tuesday), ABC, 26.8 million viewers
3. CSI, CBS, 24.1 million viewers
4. NFL Post Game Show (Sunday), CBS, 23.8 million viewers
5. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 21.6 million viewers
6. Grey's Anatomy, ABC, 20.9 million viewers
7. 60 Minutes, CBS, 19.2 million viewers
8. CSI: Miami, CBS, 18.8. million viewers
9. Deal or No Deal (Monday), NBC, 18.1 million viewers
10. Criminal Minds, CBS, 16.5 million viewers