AP Photo/Ron EdmondsA thought for President Obama: When Reaper's ratings shoot up because it's about the only alternative to your mug, perhaps you've been on TV too much lately.
The president's prime-time news conference last night was watched by 40.4 million across 11 broadcast and cable networks, final Nielsen numbers showed. His audience was inarguably big, but, by Obama standards, relatively so-so—down nearly 10 million from his Feb. 9 prime-time presser that aired on eight networks.
In recent days, Obama has appeared on The Tonight Show, 60 Minutes, ESPN and a ShamWow spot, but we might have deliriously imagined one or two of those.
Elsewhere:
• The Denise Richards-eliminating Dancing With the Stars (15.7 million, per preliminary estimates) benefited from American Idol's night off, but ran third in the 9 p.m. hour among adults 18-49.
• NCIS (17.54 million) and The Mentalist (17.5 million) were Tuesday's most-watched shows; The Biggest Loser (9.8 million) was the night's most demographically desired show.
• Compared to last week, Reaper (season-high 2.5 million) was up a whopping 31 percent—and is already planning to vote Obama in 2012.
(Originally published March 25, 2009, at 11 a.m. PT)