TV Top Ten - Week of September 29, 2008

Even though viewership dropped by over two million households from the week before, Dancing With The Stars was still the most watched show last week. Competition Monday took top honors while the Results Show Tuesday came in fourth, a jump from its ninth place location last week. America seems to be getting more and more anxious to see how long it will take for Cloris to get the boot.

Thanks to Joseph Biden and Sarah Palin swapping rehearsed sound bites, Grey's Anatomy fans were left in the dark for a week leaving NCIS to move up to second most watched show on broadcast television. With any luck, those fans will realize they didn't miss it at all and forget to watch it next week too leading to not just a season finale but a series finale in the coming months.

Overall broadcast television slumped going into last week, but one show that held strong was CBS' new drama The Mentalist. Last week's number ten, it moved up to the sixth spot holding on solidly to its 15+ million viewers. The show's success may just be beginners luck or the fact that this season is hard up for enjoyable new material.

The vice presidential debate and pundits following up thereon dominated the cable networks last week. Between Fox News and CNN four of the top ten were Palin/Biden-rific. Fox News owned three of those spots, leaving CNN to continue wallowing in the fact that their long lost Greta Van Susteren continues to soundly top Anderson Cooper.

But Monday Night football was once again king of the hill with ESPN's coverage of the Ravens/Steelers game drawing almost 12 million television sets. Meanwhile as MLB division playoffs carry the teams closer and closer to the World Series, the games are beginning to get more attention. Game 3 between the Angels and Red Sox and Game 1 between the Dodgers and Cubs ranked eighth and tenth relatively.

RANK PROGRAM NTWK RATING VIEWERS

BROADCAST TELEVISION

1. DANCING WITH THE STARS ABC 12.2 18.883

2. NCIS CBS 11 17.47

3. 60 MINUTES CBS 10.5 16.648

4. DANCING W/STARS RESULTS ABC 10.2 15.491

5. DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES ABC 10 15.685

6. MENTALIST, THE CBS 9.8 15.484

7. CSI: NY CBS 9.6 14.878

8. CRIMINAL MINDS CBS 9.5 14.78

9. CSI: MIAMI CBS 9.2 14.345

10. NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL NBC 8.8 14.207

CABLE TELEVISION

1. NFL REGULAR SEASON L (RAVENS/STEELERS) ESPN 7.5 11.783

2. VP DEBATE(S)-10/02/2008 FOXNC 6.5 11.098

3. SR/VICE PRES DEBATE 2008(S)-10/02/2008 CNN 5.7 10.685

4. ON THE RECORD W/GRETA FOXNC 5.6 9.801

5. VP DEBATE CVG(S)-10/02/2008 FOXNC 4.6 7.372

6. ANDERSON COOPER 360 CNN 4.4 7.961

7. VP DEBATE ANALYSIS(S)-10/02/2008 FOXNC 4.3 6.977

8. MLB DIVISION SERIES (ANGELS-RED SOX 3) TBSC 3.9 6.199

9. THE OREILLY FACTOR FOXNC 3.7 5.624

10. MLB DIVISION SERIES (DODGERS-CUBS 1) TBSC 3.5 5.381