Heading towards the final competition showdown, Fox's American Idol regained its position as the most-watched television show last week, with Wednesday's results show drawing 19.57 million viewers and Tuesday's performance show, 19.17 million. ABC's Monday-night edition of Dancing With The Stars was just a half-step behind with 19.16 million. (Indeed, in one of those regularly occurring anomalies, Dancing actually drew slightly higher ratings than either Idol show because of the smaller number of total viewers on Monday night.) Every other show in the top ten aired on CBS. Among the nightly newscasts, ABC World News with Diane Sawyer continued to close the ratings gap with NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams . The ABC newscast was watched by 7.32 million viewers vs. 7.91 million for the NBC newscast. Among adults 25-54, ABC attracted 2.08 million viewers to NBC's 2.38 million. NBC led Monday through Thursday; ABC led on Friday. The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric remained a distant third with 5.57 million viewers and just 1.70 million in the younger demo. For the week, CBS led overall with an average 6.4 rating and an 11 share. ABC placed second with a 5.5/10. Fox placed third with a 4.7/8, while NBC remained dead last with a 3.5/8.

The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research 1. Dancing with the Stars (Monday), ABC, 12.3/19; 2. American Idol (Wednesday), Fox, 11.2/18; 3. American Idol (Tuesday), Fox, 10.7/17; 4. NCIS, CBS, 10.5/16; 5. NCIS Los Angeles, CBS, 9.8/15; 6. The Mentalist, CBS, 9.3/16; 7. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 8.5/13; 8. The Good Wife , CBS, 8.3/14; 9. The Big Bang Theory , CBS, 8.2/13; 9. Criminal Minds, CBS, 8.2/13; 11. Csi Crime Scene Investigation, CBS, 8.1/13; 11. (Tie) Dancing with the Stars (Tuesday), ABC, 8.1/13.

19/05/2010