Why is the easily unhinged Tatiana Del Toro an ideal wild-card candidate for American Idol? Why is Rosie O'Donnell back from the dead of Rosie Live? And, setting aside a suspicious tweet, why is Heroes (probably) not going anywhere?
The answers—and more questions—in this week's TV ratings pop quiz:
1. Del Toro? Really? Really. Idol's cooling; Del Toro's a crier; reality-show tears—the latest Nielsen numbers show, are hot. The Bachelor season closer was a Kleenex advertisement—and a franchise-record draw (estimated 17 million viewers for the postfinale special). The Girls Next Door season finale was a soppy mess—and E!'s most-watched fare since The Anna Nicole Show's first season (2.5 million). (E! Online is a division of E! Entertainment.) The Real Housewives of Orange County reunion special was an emotional wreck—and the series' biggest-ever episode (2.2 million).
2. How did O'Donnell become a prime-time player again? Her Lifetime TV movie, America, was a cable hit. Still, with 3.2 million viewers, it was on the low side of recent Lifetime movies starring Sigourney Weaver (Prayers for Bobby, 3.8 million) and Heather Locklear (Flirting With 40, 4 million).
3. Is there one good Nielsen reason why Heroes won't be canceled? Knowing how networks love to crunch numbers, there are probably several. But here's one: In the latest 18-49 weekly rankings, NBC had five different series in the top 25, compared with CBS' seven and Fox's six. One of them was named Heroes.
4. Isn't The Simpsons getting old? Nope. The Fox show, renewed for seasons 21 and 22, finished a vigorous 21st place among adults 18-49 and finished ahead of whippersnappers such as The Amazing Race and 30 Rock.
5. Why is it so hard to see Friday Night Lights make progress? Because the numbers are so small. Nonetheless, NBC noted that last week's little-watched episode scored the series' best ratings since its third-season premiere on the network in January.
6. Is NBC sensitive about running new 30 Rocks after old Offices? Apparently. In its weekly ratings recap, NBC pointed out that last week's rerun-hampered 30 Rock scored 1 million more viewers than the last time the network pulled that dumb move.
7. Why should President Obama reach out to Fox News viewers? His un-State of the Union address scored a bigger crowd on Fox News (5 million) than any other cable network. Other standout cable performances from the past week included: the season finale of The Closer (6 million), Burn Notice (4.8 million) and Hannah Montana (4.1 million), which even as a rerun outdrew every other half-hour comedy series.
8. Why should President Obama reach out to Idol? Because his speech threw Idol off its schedule—and its game. Still, Wednesday's Idol was the week's No. 1 show (24.5 million), followed by Thursday's Idol (20.9 million), NCIS (18.3 million) and the Tom Selleck TV movie, Jesse Stone: Thin Ice (17.7 million).