Once again, American Idol reigned supreme as the year’s most-watched program by total viewers, logging an impressive 22.974 million viewers in P2+ live and same day for the Tuesday musical performance show. The ratings blockbuster, which sidles in to smash the competition each year in January, fared slightly better on Tuesdays than on Wednesdays (21.951 million viewers), when it airs its heavily padded results show.
FOX
One of only two NBC shows to crack the top 20, Sunday Night Football is a ratings behemoth for the Peacock, garnering 21.028 million total viewers in terms of live and same-day viewing, trouncing CBS’ lineup on Sundays. Unfortunately, NBC lacks the traction in the timeslot the rest of the year.
NBC
Just as in the case of American Idol, ABC’s reality competition format, Dancing With the Stars, fares better in its weekly performance episodes than it does in the results shows. The Monday episodes had a year-to-date average of 20.722 million viewers and a bit of a dropoff on Tuesdays, where it brought in 16.238 million viewers. Proof perhaps that the drama comes from the competition rather than the reveal of the eliminated parties?
ABC
CBS’ long-running military investigation procedural has become a massive hit in its last few seasons and spun off a Los-Angeles based iteration (sitting comfortably at No. 6) as well. NCIS scored 14.510 million viewers this past calendar year in live and same-day numbers.
CBS
The granddaddy of all reality-competition shows, Survivor may have fallen in the ratings since its heyday but the format still performs consistently well. However, the recent Nicaragua cycle (12.133 million viewers) didn’t score as well as last spring’s more dynamic “Heroes vs. Villains” cycle (12.599 million).
CBS
The LL Cool J- and Chris O’Donnell-led NCIS: LA might be a spinoff of a spinoff (the original being, of course, JAG), but that hasn’t stopped this show’s sophomore season from bringing the viewers in droves. (It helps that it airs right after NCIS.) 12.232 million viewers tuned in this year in terms of live and same-day numbers.
CBS
The only comedy to crack the top 10, despite—or perhaps due to—series star Charlie Sheen’s brushes with the law and the tabloids, Two and a Half Men manages to hold on to its title as the most-watched comedy on television, with 12.22 million viewers.
CBS
ABC’s soapy medical drama Grey’s Anatomy has seen not only a creative resurgence this year but also resuscitated its viewership as well. 11.929 million total viewers tuned in this past calendar year amid such storylines as Meredith’s miscarriage and a crazed gunman shooting up the hallways of Seattle Grace. Grey’s ranked ninth among shows with the greatest percentage of time-shifted viewing this fall (33.8 percent or 2.362 million).
CBS
The Mentalist’s Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) isn’t really psychic, but this crime procedural—revolving around a faux psychic who helps the California Bureau of Investigation catch bad guys—netted an impressive 11.739 million viewers this year.
CBS
NBC’s summertime reality competition series (its only top 20 hit other than football) saw the loss of judge David Hasselhoff (he was replaced by Howie Mandel) but the series still scored a significant 11.732 million P2+ rating in its Wednesday evening outings and 11.272 million on Thursdays.
NBC
The 2010 cycle of The Bachelor subtitled “On the Wings of Love” found pilot (and former Bachelorette contestant) Jake Pavelka give his final rose to Vienna Girardi to the tune of 11.597 million total viewers over the season. Pavelka would go on to participate in Dancing With the Stars, finalist Ali Fedotowsky would get her own chance at love on The Bachelorette, and several contestants appeared on ABC’s spinoff Bachelor Pad.
ABC
The move from Mondays to Thursdays hasn’t hurt The Big Bang Theory, which grabbed 11.59 million overall viewers this year, making it the second most-watched comedy behind Two and a Half Men, even with competition in the timeslot from NBC’s Community and Fox’s Bones. That competition might account for the fact that The Big Bang Theory continues to see gains in terms of time-shifted viewing, with 4.689 million watching on DVR this fall, a sizable increase from Fall 2009’s numbers (3.219 million).
CBS
It looks like the ladies of Wisteria Lane still command a lot of respect, with Desperate Housewives nabbing a very healthy 11.479 million P2+ viewers this calendar year. No wonder ABC seems reluctant to wrap up this nighttime soap any time soon.
ABC
CBS’ venerable newsmagazine scored 11.339 million viewers in 2010. Not surprisingly, 60 Minutes also had CBS’ oldest estimated median age in terms of total viewership for the live and same day: 61.4 years old.
CBS
The only certifiable reality smash hit in recent years, Undercover Boss came out of nowhere to grab 11.282 million viewers in P2+ ratings, building on CBS’ audience for lead-in The Amazing Race (#19). While it remains to be seen how long cameras can keep following CEOs around without anyone suspecting funny business, it’s clear that Undercover Boss is a crucial part of CBS’ Sunday night strategy.
CBS
One of only three freshman shows to break into the top of the pack, Mark Roberts and Chuck Lorre’s multicamera sitcom Mike & Molly is a true success story for the 2010-11 season, luring 11.219 million viewers.
CBS
A reimagining of the classic Jack Lord crime procedural that ran on CBS between 1968 and 1980, Hawaii Five-0—which stars Alex O’Loughlin, Scott Caan, Daniel Dae Kim, and Grace Park—booked 11.121 million viewers this year, all to that oh-so-familiar theme tune. Additionally, Hawaii Five-0 had the most time-shifted viewers of all freshman shows this season, with 3.976 million opting to watch via DVR.
CBS
Currently in its 11th season, Anthony Zuiker’s Las Vegas-based CSI: Crime Scene Investigation—which begat spinoffs CSI: Miami and CSI: New York—still has legs, grabbing 10.96 million viewers this year.
CBS
The multiple Emmy Award-winning reality-competition series, which lost its annual bragging rights this year to Bravo’s Top Chef, saw some improvement cycle to cycle this year. The recent 17th cycle, which wrapped up this month, chased down 10.955 million adventurers in P2+ live and same-day ratings, while the spring’s cycle saw 10.404 million tuning in to catch a glimpse of host Phil Keoghan’s raised eyebrow.
CBS
Could Tom Selleck’s mustache be the draw? The freshman police procedural/family drama—which revolves around a family of police officers (and one lawyer)—managed to get a sizable 10.9 million viewers this year. No small feat, given that the show airs on Friday nights at 10 p.m.
CBS
NBC’s short-lived limited series Persons Unknown—an international co-production from Fox Television Studios—was the fifth least-watched broadcast network program of the year, excluding CW shows and non-primetime programming, with just 2.357 million viewers tuning in.
NBC
Joss Whedon’s drama series—about programmed “dolls” who could assume any identity or skill set—racked up just 2.237 million on Friday evenings during early 2010. No surprise that Fox canceled the show after two low-rated seasons, though it did air all 13 episodes from the show’s second season, pleasing its rather limited fanbase.
FOX
No surprise that NBC’s six-episode comedy 100 Questions—which was shelved for the 2009-10 season and then burned off over the summer—only attracted 2.081 million viewers.
NBC
This quirky family comedy was shifted around the schedule by Fox considerably during its brief run, airing in the 7 p.m. hour on Sunday nights as well as a short run in the 9:30 timeslot. However, the show still ended up the second least-watched show of the year, with 1.743 million tuning in to the show when it aired at 7:30 p.m. and an even more shocking 1.526 million when it aired at 7 p.m. No one was surprised when the axe fell.
FOX
Despite the massive promotional launch that Fox made for this mustachioed police action-comedy from Burn Notice creator Matt Nix—including a full-season order before a single episode had aired—only 1.651 million tuned into the show when it aired on Fridays at 9 p.m., though The Good Guys did have an additional 864,000 time-shifted viewers this fall.
FOX
