TV's Biggest Losers? The Surprising Results

Did American Idol survive the loss of Simon Cowell? Did Glee suffer a sophomore slump? Did Grey's Anatomy rebound? Season-ending Nielsen ratings reveal all

The TV season ends Wednesday night.

So, where did TV's top shows end up? A look at the big winners—and losers:

Big Winners:

1. American Idol: Bet you wouldn't have been shocked if this show hadn't made the cut here. But not only did it survive the loss of Simon Cowell, it thrived. Through last week, Idol's performance and results shows were both up over last year's—yes, up. And, yes, the franchise will close out the 2010-11 season as TV's most-watched and second-most-watched show. Again. 

2. Dancing With the Stars: From Jennifer Grey to Kirstie Alley, this was the ballroom series' most-watched season ever.

3. Sunday Night Football: A monster franchise got more monstrous—up 2 million viewers from the 2009 campaign. The sky's the limit! (Or maybe not…)

Big Losers:

1. Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy: These shows defined the mid-2000s for ABC. Now they're definitively on the decline. Both fell out of the Top 20. Both were down about 2.5 million viewers from last season.

2. House: Another Top 20 evictee. Another show that bled 2.5 million viewers.

3. Undercover Boss: Wanna a shock? Other than the fact that this reality series lost 5.5 million viewers—5.5 million!—it actually had a pretty good sophomore season.

And the Rest:

• Glee: For all the Britney Spears, for all the Lady Gaga, for all the feuds, when the dust settled, the musical comedy, heading into its finale tonight, was basically neither bigger nor smaller than last season. (Not that that's a bad thing.)

• Body of Proof: Granted the Dana Delany series has only been on the air since March, but a title's a tile, and its title is most-watched new show. (Sorry, everybody who picked Hawaii Five-0 in the preseason office pool.) Other freshman standouts included Blue Bloods, The Voice and Harry's Law.

• Survivor: With Undercover Boss taking a dive, TV's original reality show reasserted itself as TV's most-watched reality series. 

• The Big Bang Theory: With Two and a Half Men in reruns since forever, this comedy became TV's new top comedy.

• School Pride: Averaging a whopping 2.6 million viewers over six episodes, the NBC reality series was the least-watched show on the Big Four broadcast networks. Other bottom feeders: The Good Guys, Perfect Couples and The Paul Reiser Show. 

Here's a rundown of the season's Top 20 most-watched shows (excluding football pre-game and post-game shows), through Sunday, per Nielsen:

1. American Idol (Wednesday), 25.6 million viewers
2. American Idol (Thursday), 23.8 million
3. Sunday Night Football, 21.4 million 
4. Dancing With the Stars (Monday), 21 million
5. NCIS, 19.7 million
6. Dancing With the Stars (Tuesday), 18.3 million
7. NCIS LA, 16.7 million
8. The Mentalist, 15.3 million
9. Criminal Minds, 14.3 million
10. CSI, 13.63 million
11. Survivor: Nicaragua, 13.6 million
12. 60 Minutes, 13.3 million
13. The Big Bang Theory, 13.2 million
14. Body of Proof, 13.1 million
15. The Good Wife, 12.9 million
16. Two and a Half Men, 12.87 million
17. Blue Bloods, 12.7 million
18. Survivor: Redemption Island, 12.6 million
19. The Voice, 12.56 million
20. Undercover Boss, 12.2 million