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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Tues., April 10

By ED BARK
Tuesday night's two back-to-back big draws again held serve in D-FW, with Fox's American Idol and ABC's Dancing with the Stars flexing against all competing programming.

Idol's performance hour as usual led the way, with 295,120 total homes and 176,700 advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds. Dancing's latest results show pounded out 273,700 homes to easily best Fox's competing House (204,680). But it was much closer among 18-to-49-year-olds, with Dancing drawing 124,000 of 'em while House had 108,500.

ABC's best performer in the 18-to-49 demo wasn't Dancing, but Boston Legal. The 9 p.m. melodrama bagged 155,000 advertiser faves in finishing a very respectable second to House.

Elsewhere in prime-time, the three cable news networks were filled with more blab about Don Imus and the revelation that Larry Birkhead is the fair-head pops of the late Anna Nicole Smith's baby girl.

In the marquee big mouth competition at 7 p.m., MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann edged Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor in total homes. But O'Reilly returned serve by whipping his arch nemesis among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.

At 6 p.m., gasbag Chris Matthews' Hardball on MSNBC placed second in both measurements to self-important Shepard Smith's The Fox Report.

CNN won just once from 6 to 10 p.m., with Larry King Live placing first at 8 p.m. with 25-to-54-year-olds. But these are not imposing numbers. The night's biggest draw in the cable news universe, MSNBC's 9 p.m. Scarborough Country, attracted just 19,040 homes. The Texas Rangers-Tampa Bay game on Fox Sports Southwest in comparison drew 47,600 homes, making it a virtual American Idol in the cable leagues.

The local news derby went like this, with D-FW's four major competitors all starting to warm up for the April 26th start of the season-ending May "sweeps":

Belo8 won in homes at 10 p.m., but NBC5 took first place with 25-to-54-year-olds.

The two stations tied for the top spot in homes at 6 a.m., but Fox4 won among 25-to-54-year-olds. Belo8 easily swept the 5 and 6 p.m. news competitions in both measurements.

Also of note: CBS11's 4 p.m. local newscast placed a solid second to the first half-hour of The Oprah in homes and among 25-to-54-year-olds.
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