Michael Becker / FOXWhatever happened to the TV ratings? How many shows outdrew the Jonas Brothers? And how big a tip does Private Practice owe Grey's Anatomy?
The answers—and more questions—in this week's ratings quiz:
1. How big was last night's rock 'n' roll American Idol? How many witnessed Lil' Kim's Dancing With the Stars dismissal? How demographically desirable, or not, was Monday's Gossip Girl? Your guess is as good as the networks'. Until late this afternoon, Nielsen Media Research hadn't released any numbers on any broadcast shows since the weekend. "Processing issues" were blamed for the blackout, which was called "unprecedented" by the New York Times, and which leaves Kiefer Sutherland in the dark (still) about 24's latest performance. Oh well, at least Sutherland is noted for his cool head.
2. Do the Jonas Brothers totally rule or what? Well…As noted earlier, ratings for the premiere of the Jonas' new Disney Channel comedy, JONAS, were solid. But the show's audience of 4 million wasn't bigger than NBA playoff basketball (7 million and 5.4 million, respectively, for two Boston Celtics-Chicago Bulls games), WWE Raw (5 million average for back-to-back episodes), a USA prime-time rerun of NCIS (4.5 million), Hannah Montana (4.5 million), Sonny With a Chance (4.1 million), and two of three parts of the Fairly OddParents special, Wishology (4.1 million and 4 million, respectively, for the episodes). Among cable prime-time shows, per rare Nielsen documentation for the TV week ended Sunday, JONAS finished 10th. So, to recap, the show almost totally ruled.
3. How big a difference did Grey's Anatomy make for Private Practice? Thirty-one percent. That, according to ABC, is precisely how much bigger Private Practice's audience got after the show moved from Wednesdays to the post-Grey's time slot, where it aired its season finale last week.
4. Why did Fringe get an early renewal for next fall? Call it a reward for a Nielsen job well done. Fox had four Top 10 shows in last week's adult 18-49 rankings—two of them were American Idol, one was House and the other was—ta-da!—Fringe.
5. Why did Celebrity Apprentice get renewed for next spring? Call it a case of "You Got Anything Better—or Bigger?" Last week the officially indefatigable Donald Trump reality series outranked Heroes, 30 Rock, Medium and every other NBC show in the demo standings, save Law & Order: SVU and The Office.
6. Why did Parks and Recreation get renewed at all? Call it a case of "You Got Anything Better—or Bigger? Part II." As small as the Amy Poehler series has gotten, and it's gotten small fast, last week's episode outdrew Kath & Kim's season average in the demo by nearly 30 percent.
7. Is there anything Desperate Housewives can do to surprise anymore? Not finish in the Top 10. The show, which averaged 13.5 million viewers for Sunday's all-new episode, finished 11th, squeezed out by Tuesday's Idol (23.3 million), Wednesday's Idol (22.4 million), Monday's DWTS (19.3 million), The Mentalist (17.1 million), NCIS (16.7 million), CSI (15.5 million), Tuesday's DWTS (14.7 million), Two and a Half Men (14.2 million), Grey's Anatomy (14.1 million) and Criminal Minds (13.6 million).
8. Why is the CW going to give up on Sunday night? Wait, the CW programmed Sunday night? (In defense of the weekend presentation of John Travolta's Be Cool, the movie did outdraw a 90210 rerun, 1.2 million dedicated CW viewers to 1.1 million dedicated CW viewers.)