Paul Drinkwater/NBCHeeeere's Barack! President Obama's Thursday summit with Jay Leno gave the Tonight Show its biggest overnight ratings since Leno paid tribute to the late Johnny Carson in January 2005, NBC said.
Now That's Economic Stimulus: Obama's appearance—the first late-night gig for a sitting president—likewise boosted Late Night and Last Call to those shows' best numbers since 2005.
Other Thursday Winners: Compared to last week, Supernatural (3.1 million), 30 Rock (7 million), The Office (8 million), Private Practice (10 million), Bones (10.2 million) and Grey's Anatomy (14.4 million) were all up.
Why It Pays to Show Up: With CSI (and all the other CBS shows) bumped for basketball, Grey's ruled as the night's most-watched show and its highest rated among 18-49-year-olds.
Ugly Betty Watch: After struggling for so long, the show was up again (7.6 million) and, per ABC, scored its biggest audience in four weeks.
Etc.: One week after the George Clooney fest, ER (9.5 million) was down, but still up more than 1 million viewers over its season average. Smallville (3.3 million) and Hell's Kitchen (7.6 million) were a bit off, but OK.