...the least viewed Academy Awards ever. Though fewer eyeballs had never watched, the 80th Annual Academy Awards still took the top spot away from FOX and American Idol, but it certainly wound up being much closer than we thought. Especially since ABC was charging like 7x as much for an ad on the Oscars as Idol charges.
Idol took the second, third and fourth spots with the Oscar's Red Carpet "pre game" taking the 5th Spot. The Barbara Walters Oscar-themed special was #11 on a viewers basis.
CBS had eight shows on the list. With five out of the eight being repeats CBS can once again lay claim to being king of the reruns. Its best effort for the week was Survivor: Micronesia at #8.
FOX had 5 shows -- in addition to the three airings of AI, FOX placed Don't Forget the Lyrics and the NASCAR Sprint Cup in the top 20.
ABC placed four shows -- in addition to the Oscars and related shows, LOST came in at #7.
NBC placed three shows in the list. Deal or No Deal at #6 was not a surprise. But that My Dad is Better Than Your Dad could sneak in at #18 during the week the Oscars were on? That may be good news for NBC, but seems like bad news for broadcast television in general.
Top 20 shows by viewers for the week ending 02/24/08:
| RANK | PROGRAMS | ORIG | HH RATING (LIVE+SD) | HH SHARE (LIVE+SD) | # OF PERSONS 2+ (LIVE+SD) (000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ACADEMY AWARDS(S) | ABC | 18.7 | 29 | 32,006 |
| 2 | American Idol-TUESDAY | FOX | 16.4 | 25 | 29,006 |
| 3 | American Idol-WEDNESDAY | FOX | 16.1 | 24 | 28,885 |
| 4 | American Idol THU SP-2/21(S) | FOX | 13.4 | 21 | 23,374 |
| 5 | OSCAR'S RED CARPET 2008(S) | ABC | 13.3 | 21 | 21,536 |
| 6 | DEAL OR NO DEAL-MON | NBC | 10.0 | 15 | 16,948 |
| 7 | LOST | ABC | 7.7 | 12 | 13,647 |
| 8 | SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA | CBS | 7.3 | 11 | 12,661 |
| 9 | Two and a Half Men ( R) | CBS | 7.7 | 12 | 12,446 |
| 10 | DON'T FORGET THE LYRICS | FOX | 7.2 | 11 | 12,431 |
| 11 | WITHOUT A TRACE (R ) | CBS | 8.0 | 13 | 12,086 |
| 12 | CSI (R ) | CBS | 7.7 | 12 | 11,923 |
| 13 | BARBARA WALTERS SP-2/24(S) | ABC | 7.7 | 13 | 11,692 |
| 14 | FOX NASCAR SPRINT CUP | FOX | 6.2 | 10 | 10,916 |
| 15 | Law And Order | NBC | 7.3 | 12 | 10,858 |
| 16 | NCIS (R ) | CBS | 7.1 | 11 | 10,853 |
| 17 | 60 Minutes | CBS | 7.1 | 11 | 10,690 |
| 18 | MY DAD IS BETR THN YR DAD | NBC | 5.3 | 8 | 9,810 |
| 19 | CSI: MIAMI (R ) | CBS | 6.3 | 11 | 9,512 |
| 20 | OLD CHRISTINE | CBS | 6.1 | 9 | 9,399 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
