Though down significantly versus last year's NFC Championship game that featured the New York Giants versus the Green Bay Packers, the Baltimore Ravens versus Pittsburgh Steelers AFC Championship matchup led all weekly viewing, and both airings of American Idol topped 30 million.
Nielsen Top Twenty Shows by viewers for the week ending 01/18/09:
| Rank | Shows | R=Repeat S=Special P=Premiere | Net | # Viewers (LIVE+SD) (000) | HH RATING (LIVE+SD) | HH SHARE (LIVE+SD) | 18-49 Rank |
| 1 | AFC CHAMPIONSHIP ON CBS(S) | S | CBS | 40,645 | 22.0 | 34 | 1 |
| 2 | AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY | P | FOX | 30,424 | 15.8 | 23 | 3 |
| 3 | AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY | P | FOX | 30,322 | 16.4 | 25 | 2 |
| 4 | AFC CHMP POST GAME ON CBS(S) | S | CBS | 25,441 | 14.5 | 23 | 4 |
| 5 | CSI | CBS | 24,246 | 14.4 | 22 | 5 | |
| 6 | NCIS | CBS | 18,620 | 11.3 | 17 | 16 | |
| 7 | Mentalist, THE | CBS | 18,069 | 11.0 | 16 | 15 | |
| 8 | TWO AND A HALF MEN | CBS | 17,102 | 10.2 | 15 | 6 | |
| 9 | Mentalist, THE - SUN SPCL(S) | S | CBS | 16,387 | 10.0 | 17 | 10 |
| 10 | CSI: MIAMI | CBS | 15,830 | 10.1 | 17 | 14 | |
| 11 | CSI - 8PM SPECIAL(S) | SR | CBS | 15,515 | 9.6 | 15 | 17 |
| 12 | CRIMINAL MINDS | CBS | 13,778 | 8.7 | 13 | 24 | |
| 13 | ELEVENTH HOUR | CBS | 13,159 | 8.3 | 14 | 19 | |
| 14 | GREY'S ANATOMY-THU 9PM | ABC | 13,099 | 8.5 | 13 | 7 | |
| 15 | DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES | ABC | 13,082 | 8.3 | 12 | 9 | |
| 16 | CSI: NY | CBS | 12,666 | 8.0 | 13 | 28 | |
| 17 | WITHOUT A TRACE | CBS | 12,419 | 8.0 | 13 | ||
| 18 | 24 | P | FOX | 12,307 | 7.1 | 11 | 13 |
| 19 | BIG BANG THEORY, THE | CBS | 11,807 | 7.1 | 11 | 11 | |
| 20 | HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER | CBS | 11,761 | 6.8 | 10 | 8 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved
All numbers above based on live plus same day DVR viewing.
I feel bad for one show on Broadcast Television right now and that is Desperate Housewives. For the last two weeks they have had a lot of competition and i think when they come back on in three weeks that they will have an increase of at least 1.5-3 million viewers. Last weeekend they went up against the Golden Globes, the 24 season premier, Steelers vs Ravens, and Cold Case. This past weekend they were up against AFC Championship Game and the regular competition.
The first two seasons this show was a ratings machine and now they are still averaging any where from 13- 17 million. People critize their ratings but until i see them out of the Top 20 consecutivily and see them out of the top 3 shows for ABC, i wont think of them as a bad show