Lost finds decent national ratings; ABC rediscovers Miss America pageant
05/24/10 12:38 PM
By ED BARK
Hardly a blockbuster but definitely a talker, ABC's two-and-a-half-hour Lost finale drew 13.5 million viewers nationally Sunday night.
Those numbers will fall well short of the same week's performance episodes of both ABC's Dancing with the Stars and Fox's American Idol. But Lost did win its time slot, beating NBC's runner-up season finale of Celebrity Apprentice by 4.2 million viewers while also dominating among advertiser-favored 18-to-49-year-olds.
It's a sign of Lost's declining popularity, though, that the May 23, 2007 Season 3 finale drew more total viewers, as did the Feb. 21, 2008 episode, says ABC.
Sunday's preceding two-hour Lost recap had 9.8 million viewers. And a late night Jimmy Kimmel Live special attended by most of the principal male cast members drew 4.9 million viewers.
***Relegated to the likes of the CMT and TLC cable networks in recent years, the Miss America pageant will be returning to ABC in January 2011, the network announced Monday.
ABC had relinquished Miss America in 2005 after low ratings and older audience demographics. But the network says it's "thrilled" to have the pageant back for what will be its 90th anniversary.
No host or hosts have been named yet.