Big TV week for 'Dancing With the Stars,' Palins

NEW YORK (AP) — It was a big week in TV ratings for "Dancing With the Stars" and the Palin family.

Just a few days after the last two episodes of "Dancing With the Stars" became the most–watched entertainment shows of the TV season with Bristol's unexpected placement in the finals, mom Sarah Palin's reality series got a boost.

The Nielsen Co. said Tuesday that "Sarah Palin's Alaska" on the Discovery Channel had a half–million more viewers Sunday than it had the previous week. The attention paid to Bristol couldn't have hurt, although Discovery says tougher competition the previous week was probably a bigger factor in the increase.

Nielsen estimated that 24.2 million people watched Jennifer Grey win the mirror ball on "Dancing" last Tuesday. During the final competition the night before, Nielsen said 23.7 million tuned in.

Despite "Dancing," dominant CBS was the prime–time champ, with an old favorite — a Hallmark Hall of Fame holiday movie — hitting the top 10. CBS averaged 9.6 million viewers last week (5.9 rating, 10 share).

ABC was second with an 8.9 million viewer average (5.4, 9), followed by Fox with 7.1 million (4.0, 7), NBC with 6.4 million (3.9, 7), ION Television with 1.5 million (1.0, 2) and the CW with 1.2 million (0.7, 1).

Among the Spanish–language networks, Univision led with 3.3 million viewers (1.6 rating, 3 share). Telemundo had 1.04 million and TeleFutura 1.01 million (both 0.5, 1). Estrella averaged 260,000 viewers and Azteca 160,000 (both 0.1, 0).

Nielsen, whose ratings were delayed Tuesday because of the Thanksgiving holiday, did not immediately have averages for the evening news broadcasts.

A ratings point represents 1,159,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 115.9 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in–use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of Nov 22–28, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "Dancing With the Stars Results," ABC, 24.2 million; "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 23.7 million; "Fox NFL Post–Gun Show" (Thursday), Fox, 23.11 million; NFL Football: San Diego at Indianapolis, NBC, 19.1 million; "NCIS," CBS, 18.78 million; "Fox NFL Post Game" (Thursday), Fox, 15.53 million; "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 14.96 million; "Sunday Night NFL Pre–Kick," NBC, 14.44 million; "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 14.39 million; Movie: "Hallmark Hall of Fame: November Christmas," CBS, 13.48 million.

___

ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox and My Network TV are units of News Corp (News - Alert). NBC and Telemundo are owned by General Electric Co. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks. TeleFutura is a division of Univision. Azteca America is a wholly owned subsidiary of TV Azteca S.A. de C.V.

___

Online:

http://www.nielsenmedia.com