"Dance" Has Some Moves

Tue., Jul. 26, 2005 2:35 PM PDT by Joal Ryan

So, you think you can be Dancing with the Stars?

Fox's punctuation-lacking musical question, So You Think You Can Dance, got off to a strong, if not-quite John-and-Carlotta-doing-the-tango hot start. The competition's two-hour premiere averaged 10.3 million viewers, good for third place in the TV week ended Sunday, per Nielsen Media Research. Among coveted younger viewers, So You Think... was number two with a bullet.

By comparison, ABC's Dancing with the Stars, prime time's biggest summer hit since the first season of American Idol, began its run in front of 13.5 million. By the time its six-week season ended July 6, 22.4 million tuned in the finale.

Dancing with the Stars teamed familiar faces, such as Seinfeld's John O'Hurley and General Hospital's Kelly Monaco, the eventual winner, with professional ballroom denizens. So You Think You Can Dance pits unfamiliar faces, ? la Idol, against unforgiving judges, ? la Idol. Lest the Idol connection isn't clear, choreographer turned singer turned judge Paula Abdul has been tapped by the new series to "teach large groups of real people how to find their groove thing and really shake it." Her air date debut has not yet been announced.

Elsewhere:

Proving rhythm isn't everything, a rerun of CBS' CSI that featured little in the way of krumping was the week's number-one show in total viewers (14.6 million) and the 18-to-49-year-old demo.
Little watched on UPN, Veronica Mars (104th place, 1.7 million) gets a shot on its big-sister network beginning Friday when CBS airs back-to-back repeats of the P.I. drama. Mars reruns will remain on CBS' Friday schedule through Aug. 12.
MTV's The Andy Milonakis Show hasn't cracked Nielsen's top 15 basic-cable rankings, but its star has cracked the Lycos 50. According to the search-engine site's polling, Milonakis' name was the 34th most popular Internet search result for the week ended Saturday. (In the interest of saving others the surfing time: Yes, the little-brother-looking Milonakis really is pushing 30.)
ABC's Brat Camp, going up against the second hour of So You Think You Can Dance, slipped in its second week (seventh place, 9.36 million).
Big Brother 6 is holding steady on Tuesday (16th place, 8.1 million) and Thursday (18th place, 7.9 million). Unfortunately, for CBS, it's also holding steady on Saturday (54th place, 4.9 million).
Next time, perhaps the lead-singer-seeking INXS should just settle for a classified ad on Craigslist. In its second week, Rock Star, the band's CBS reality series, was down on Tuesday night (32nd place, 6.2 million), Monday night (42nd place, 5.5 million) and barely around on Thursday night (83rd place, 3.3 million).
The anticipation for Tuesday's finale of the ABC mini-series epic Empire (57th place, 4.8 million) is not building.

Overall, CBS won the week in total viewers, averaging 7.3 million; Fox won the week among younger viewers, thanks to So You Think You Can Dance.

Among total viewers, Fox averaged 5.8 million; NBC, 5.6 million; and, ABC, 5.3 million. UPN (2.8 million) widened its lead over the WB (1.7 million).

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

1. CSI, CBS, 14.6 million viewers
2. Without a Trace, CBS, 12.7 million viewers
3. So You Think You Can Dance, Fox, 10.3 million viewers
4. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 9.8 million viewers
5. Law & Order: Criminal Intent, NBC, 9.7 million viewers
6. NCIS, CBS, 9.39 million viewers
7. Brat Camp, ABC, 9.36 million viewers
8. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, NBC, 9.2 million viewers
9. Law & Order, NBC, 9 million viewers
10. CSI: Miami, CBS, 8.9 million viewers