Simon won't say, but Dancing whipped both editions of Idol last week
04/06/10 03:37 PM
By ED BARK
It almost happened in the previous week. But now it has. ABC's Dancing with the Stars performance show reigned as prime-time's No. 1 attraction in the week of March 29-April 4), outdrawing both editions of Fox's American Idol in the national Nielsens.
The Monday, March 29th Dancing had 22.966 million total viewers, beating both the Tuesday and Wednesday Idols (21.845 million and 20.492 million viewers).
According to ABC research, a regularly scheduled weekly series hasn't beaten both Idols since the week of May 16, 2005, when the Fox juggernaut was in Season 4 and eventually crowned Carrie Underwood as champ.
A further inquiry to ABC, which didn't elaborate in its news release Tuesday, found that three shows beat Idol during that week.
The finale of CBS' Everybody Loves Raymond topped all shows, followed by season-ending episodes of CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and ABC's Desperate Housewives, which was in its first season. Idol's climactic two editions didn't air until the following week.
In last week's prime-time ratings, Idol continued to beat Dancing handily among advertiser-courted 18-to-49-year-olds.
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