The ballroom works in mysterious ways.

The worse the going gets for the stars of Dancing with the Stars, the higher the ABC show's ratings go.

Last Monday's competition night, featuring the then-seven remaining dance teams, averaged a season-high 21.43 million viewers, per the latest Nielsen Media Research rankings. For the second straight week, it was TV's week's most watched show.

The Tuesday results show, featuring the surprise ouster of legit hoofer Sabrina Bryan and partner Mark Ballas, recorded a season high (fifth place, 18.9 million), as well, and waltzed past time-slot rival House (seventh place, 17.3 million) for the first time this fall.

Overall, Monday's Dancing is one of only three shows—CBS' CSI and ABC's Grey's Anatomy are the others—to average more than 20 million viewers this fall. And, as a reality show, it's the only one of the big three that isn't unduly threatened by the writers' strike. Not unless, that is, some union scribe has been penning Bruno Tonioli's quips.

Dancing's Nielsen fortunes stand in contrast to its stars' personal fortunes. Or misfortunes, as it were.

For the celebrity dancers, the season has been marked most heavily by death (Jane Seymour's mother, Marie Osmond's father, who passed away before the latest Tuesday results show) and health woes (Cameron Mathison's bum hip, Osmond's fall-away faint, guest performers Gloria Estefan's ailing mother and Jennifer Lopez's deceased grandmother). That accounting doesn't even include Seymour's fire-threatened Malibu home, Jennie Garth's quickstep misstep or Mathison's Superman routine.

Because of her father's death, Osmond, who on Monday night scored 28 out of 30 on the judges' scorecards for a "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" quickstep dedicated to her parents (mother Olive died in 2004), has returned to her family's Utah home base. She will not participate in Tuesday's live show.

If Dancing's past performance is any indication, though, Nielsen families will be out in force.

Here are other ratings highlights for the TV week ended Sunday, per Nielsen Media Research stats:

• The biggest show of the week wasn't in prime time. The Sunday afternoon NFL matchup on CBS between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts averaged 33.4 million. That's more viewers than last May's American Idol finale and, in fact, more viewers for anything on TV since last February's Oscars.
• In many markets, 60 Minutes (third place, 19.2 million) aired right after the Patriots-Colts game. In case you couldn't tell.
• In the battle of Thursday night heavyweights, Grey's Anatomy (second place, 19.3 million) topped CSI (fourth place, 19.1 million) for the first time this fall. Per usual, the MD show was TV's highest rated series among 18- to 49-year-old viewers.
• If The Simpsons (22nd place, 11.7 million) build a treehouse of terror, the viewers will come. Again and again and again...
• The 100th episode of Fox's Family Guy (31st place, 10.46 million) got outdrawn by...the Family Guy clip show (30th place, 10.47 million) that preceded it.
• Samantha Who? (14th place, 14.2 million) isn't fading—pre-writers' strike, ABC ordered a full season's worth of episodes.
• Very clever. ABC preempted its struggling Tuesday comedies (Cavemen, Carpoolers) for the trusty It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (23rd place, 11.4 million).  
• Not so clever. NBC preempted its sliding but still valuable Bionic Woman for a two-hour Phenomenon (69th place, 6.2 million).
• Its critical buzz is slipping, and so are the ratings. NBC's Heroes (29th place, 10.5 million) fell out of the top 10 in the 18-49 demo. (It was 12th.)
• The 12th go-round for CBS' Amazing Race (17th place, 13.7 million) got off to its biggest start ever.
• When A&E yanked Dog the Bounty Hunter, it sure wasn't because the N-bomb-dropping Duane Chapman wasn't pulling his weight. A Tuesday night episode (1.5 million viewers) was the cable network's fourth-most watched show.
• The fifth-season premiere of FX's Nip/Tuck (4.3 million) was cable's biggest prime-time show, outside of another monster-size Monday Night Football (14 million) on ESPN.
• The conclusion of South Park's "Imaginationland" story arc (3.9 million) drew the Comedy Central toon's largest audience of young adults since Cartman's mother was revealed to be Cartman's father in 1998.

In the network races, CBS averaged the most total viewers (12.3 million). ABC (11.3 million) averaged the most Madison Avenue-coveted viewers.

NBC (8 million) opened its November sweeps with a pair of distant third-place finishes, while Fox (7 million) ran fourth in both categories. For the season, NBC is down 16 percent in viewers, more than any other network, and down 11 percent among 18- to 49-year-olds, more than any other network save the youth-challenged CBS.

The CW (2.6 million) was lifted up by Smallville (87th place, 4.4 million) and laid low by Life Is Wild (138th place, 1.1 million).

Among cable networks, ESPN (3.2 million) was prime-time king, followed by USA (2.59 million) and Disney Channel (2.57 million).

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

1. Dancing with the Stars (Monday), ABC, 21.43 million viewers
2. Grey's Anatomy, ABC, 19.3 million
3. 60 Minutes, CBS, 19.2 million
4. CSI, CBS, 19.1 million
5. Dancing with the Stars (Tuesday), ABC, 18.9 million
6. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 18.6 million
7. House, Fox, 17.3 million
8. Sunday Night Football, NBC, 16.5 million
9. NCIS, CBS, 16.3 million
10. Criminal Minds, CBS, 14.9 million