American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, and NCIS led overall viewing again for the week ending April 12th with the NCAA Men's Basketball championship game rounding out the top five.
NBC had another bad week, where no shows placed in the top twenty most-viewed. It of course fared better with adults 18-49 where it placed three shows (two airings of The Office, and Law & Order: SVU). Newcomer Southland was the twenty-third most-watched show of the week, and twenty-second among adults 18-49. The premiere of Parks and Recreation was forty-second in terms of overall viewing, but twenty-fifth with adults 18-49.
In the battle of shows from J. J. Abrams, Lost was 31st overall and 9th with adults 18-49, while Fringe was 22nd overall and 6th with the 18-49 crowd. The full top 20 sorted by 18-49 ranking is also available.
Last week (Monday 4/6, not last night) Chuck was the number 50 show in terms of overall viewing and 47th with 18-49 year olds. The lowest-rated episode of Heroes ever was 48th overall and 33rd among adults 18-49 (though even so, it was still 21st with adults 18-34).
Chuck rebounded a little last night, and Heroes rebounded a lot although it dropped so far on 4/6 that on 4/13 it basically just rebounded to where it was two weeks ago -- but, still a nice reversal of a trend for a week), so look for improvement in next week's weekly recap.
Nielsen Top Twenty Shows by viewers for the week ending April 12, 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 | 22,976 | 13.4 | 21 | 2 | |
| 2 | AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY | FOX | 22,813 | 13.1 | 21 | 1 | |
| 3 | DANCING WITH THE STARS | ABC | 19,883 | 12.5 | 19 | 5 | |
| 4 | NCIS | CBS | 17,807 | 10.9 | 17 | 13 | |
| 5 | CBS NCAA BSKBL CHAMPSHIPS(S) | S | CBS | 17,649 | 10.8 | 18 | 3 |
| 6 | Mentalist, THE | CBS | 16,921 | 10.3 | 16 | 12 | |
| 7 | CSI | CBS | 16,625 | 10.1 | 17 | 10 | |
| 8 | DANCING W/STARS RESULTS | ABC | 14,561 | 9.1 | 14 | 16 | |
| 9 | CRIMINAL MINDS | CBS | 13,606 | 8.5 | 13 | 20 | |
| 10 | HOUSE | FOX | 13,294 | 7.9 | 12 | 4 | |
| 11 | 60 MINUTES SPECIAL(S) | S | CBS | 12,825 | 7.6 | 14 | 29 |
| 12 | CSI: NY | CBS | 12,504 | 7.9 | 13 | 19 | |
| 13 | WITHOUT A TRACE | CBS | 12,154 | 7.9 | 13 | 30 | |
| 14 | PRELUDE TO A CHAMPIONSHIP(S) | S | CBS | 12,152 | 7.5 | 11 | 8 |
| 15 | SURVIVING SUBURBIA | P | ABC | 11,249 | 7.2 | 11 | 26 |
| 16 | SURVIVOR: TOCANTINS | CBS | 11,238 | 6.6 | 12 | 14 | |
| 17 | 24 | FOX | 10,958 | 6.5 | 10 | 11 | |
| 18 | AMAZING RACE 14 - SPECIAL(S) | S | CBS | 10,572 | 6.0 | 10 | 24 |
| 19 | COLD CASE - SPECIAL(S) | S | CBS | 10,559 | 6.4 | 10 | 35 |
| 20 | HARPER'S ISLAND | P | CBS | 10,210 | 6.5 | 11 | 32 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved
All numbers above based on live plus same day DVR viewing.
