‘Dancing With the Stars’ gives ABC a boost in Nielsen ratings

“Dancing With the Stars” drew its largest season-premiere audience, but less than half the viewers stuck around to watch the debut of mystery drama “Castle” that followed last Monday on ABC.

The two-hour “Dancing With the Stars” premiere averaged 22.83 million viewers, ABC’s largest audience in the Monday 8 to 10 p.m. slot since New Year’s Day 2001.

“Castle,” which followed, was second in its time slot and 23rd for the week with 10.76 million viewers, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

NBC’s two premieres last week, “Kings” and “The Chopping Block,” didn’t come close to matching the viewership of an episode of “ER” that included unpromoted guest appearances by original cast members George Clooney and Julianna Margulies. “Kings,” a modern-day version of the David and Goliath story, was 53rd, averaging 6.08 million viewers. The cooking competition series “The Chopping Block” averaged 3.77 million viewers, putting it 90th.

“ER” drew 10.86 million viewers, its most since Feb. 15, 2007.

CBS was the most-watched network for the 19th time in the season’s 25 weeks, with 10 of the 15 most-watched programs.

latimes.com

03/18/2009 — Filed under: Entertaiment
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