Desperate Housewives Can't Keep Up With Kardashians?!

E! series beats rerun of ABC soap, scores network's biggest audience ever—oh, the baby drama

By Joal Ryan Dec 22, 2009 6:47 PMTags
Kim Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Khloe KardashianJake Holly/startraksphoto.com

Are the Kardashians Wisteria Lane-worthy? Sick of Jersey Shore yet? And how are you liking the new Scrubs?

The answers—and more questions about The Sing-Off and Survivor—in the latest TV ratings quiz:

1. True or false: Keeping Up With the Kardashians beat Desperate Housewives? True-ish. The E! reality show beat a Housewives rerun in a 10 p.m., Sunday showdown. More impressive, its audience of 4.2 million viewers was the mothership's largest ever. Sorry, Anna Nicole Smith Show.

2. Had it with Jersey Shore this and Jersey Shore that? Nope. Last week's episode was up 20 percent from the previous week's, with 2.5 million viewers, or almost one devotee per headline generated by the MTV reality show.  

3. Totally over The Sing-Off? Nope. Last night's episode was the Gleeful competition series' biggest yet, with an estimated 7.3 million viewers.

4. New Scrubs or old Scrubs? Well, the ABC comedy's new-look version hasn't had to go up against American Idol yet, so it's actually drawing bigger crowds (in the 4 millions) than the Classic Coke version averaged last season.

5. After all these years, does Survivor have any tricks left? Oh, just ask the outplayed Russell Hantz. Ratings-wise, Sunday's finale outdrew last winter's finale, with 14 million diehards, and just missed the Top 10.

6. Which finale was bigger: Survivor's or So You Think You Can Dance's? The Fox show scored 7.1 million, about where it's been all season, so do the math, and remember SYTYCD hasn't done fall before and has never been Survivor.

7. Do we need to tell you NCIS and The Closer were No. 1 again? Nah, but they'd probably appreciate it all the same if we mentioned the CBS show broke 20 million viewers (tops in all of TV, per the latest Nielsen weekly rankings). The TNT series was cable's most-watched drama or comedy series. Again.