Giovanni Rufino/ The CWHow many people had their Lizzie Maguire memories destroyed by Gossip Girl last night? How bad did Rihanna's interview show up Chris Brown's? And why would Saturday Night Live never dream of pulling a Kanye West on Taylor Swift?
The answers—and more questions—in this week's TV ratings quiz:
1. So, was that threesome good for Gossip Girl? It wasn't bad, especially considering the event was nothing more explicit than three people (Penn Badgley, Jessica Szhor and Disney grad Hilary Duff) not kissing at the same time. The CW show was up 18 percent from last week: 2.3 million estimated viewers versus 1.95 million, per Nielsen stats.
2. What were the two most surprising things about the episode? One, the show lost viewers as it headed into its threesome-boasting final half-hour; two, teenage boys chose to watch The Big Bang Theory instead. (The show did best, per usual, among young adult women.)
3. If you counted all the the times MTV aired its Chris Brown interview special over the weekend, would they add up to Rihanna's one 20/20 appearance? Nope. The half-dozen or so Brown broadcasts added up to 3.3 million viewers, with no single telecast scoring more than 679,000 gawkers. Rihanna's 20/20 interview averaged 8.4 million on Friday night.
4. Why would SNL not be inclined to grab the mic back from Taylor Swift? Because Saturday's show, featuring Swift as host and musical guest, was the late-night franchise's highest-rated episode of the season in the overnight ratings, NBC said.
Stay tuned for even more questions—and answers.
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Counterpunch: Was the Gossip Girl threesome a public service? Find out now!