American Idol took the top two spots, followed by Dancing with the Stars. A Barack Obama fueled 60 Minutes was in fourth place in terms of total viewing.
NBC was back to being shut out of the overall top twenty with its best effort Law & Order: SVU coming in twenty-second. NBC fared better (though obviously not much better) in the top twenty for adults 18-49, where it placed only two shows. In fact, it only placed two shows out of the top twenty-six shows with the 18-49 crowd. That's all we saw this week in terms of the 18-49 rankings, and it is notable that NCIS, the number five program overall was not among those twenty-six.
Also noteworthy was that the Dancing with the Stars results show was not among the top 18-49 shows either.
Meanwhile ABC's Lost which was thirtieth overall, was eighth among 18-49s. Thursday night competition is not a friend to March Madness. With 18-49s, the primetime coverage of the NCAA Basketball tournament, the Friday night (#22) and Saturday night (#14) were among the top twenty-six, but Thursday night was not.
There were several differences this week between the overall top twenty and the 18-49 top twenty, so you should give the 18-49 rankings a look if you want to see how The Big Bang Theory and several other shows not on the list below did.
Nielsen Top Twenty Shows by viewers for the week ending March 22, 2009:
| 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 | AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY | FOX | 23,705 | 13.7 | 21 | 1 | |
| 2 | AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY | FOX | 21,886 | 12.3 | 19 | 2 | |
| 3 | DANCING WITH THE STARS | ABC | 21,224 | 13.3 | 20 | 3 | |
| 4 | 60 MINUTES | CBS | 17,042 | 10.4 | 17 | 11 | |
| 5 | NCIS | CBS | 15,835 | 9.8 | 16 | ||
| 6 | Mentalist, THE | CBS | 15,491 | 9.8 | 15 | 26 | |
| 7 | DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES | ABC | 14,748 | 9.2 | 14 | 5 | |
| 8 | Grey'S ANATOMY-THU 9PM | ABC | 14,606 | 9.8 | 15 | 4 | |
| 9 | TWO AND A HALF MEN | CBS | 14,124 | 8.5 | 13 | 7 | |
| 10 | CRIMINAL MINDS | CBS | 13,741 | 8.6 | 13 | 24 | |
| 11 | CSI: MIAMI | CBS | 13,610 | 8.6 | 15 | 13 | |
| 12 | HOUSE | FOX | 13,132 | 7.8 | 12 | 6 | |
| 13 | CSI: NY | CBS | 12,786 | 8.2 | 14 | 25 | |
| 14 | DANCING W/STARS RESULTS | P | ABC | 12,737 | 8.3 | 13 | |
| 15 | AMAZING RACE 14 | CBS | 12,420 | 7.2 | 11 | 18 | |
| 16 | WITHOUT A TRACE | CBS | 11,872 | 7.6 | 13 | ||
| 17 | RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | CBS | 11,418 | 6.9 | 10 | 9 | |
| 18 | COLD CASE | CBS | 11,411 | 7.2 | 11 | ||
| 19 | 24 | FOX | 11,364 | 6.6 | 10 | 17 | |
| 20 | CASTLE | ABC | 10,965 | 7.4 | 12 |
Nielsen RatingsData: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved
All numbers above based on live plus same day DVR viewing.
