Most-watched 'Dancing' premiere ever

UPDATED: The eighth edition of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" had the most-watched premiere in the show's history, dramatically reversing a two-year slide.

The "Dancing" kickoff was seen by 22.5 million viewers -- a larger audience than Thursday's edition of ratings titan "American Idol." The dancing competition earned a 5.9 preliminary adults 18-49 rating and 15 share -- up 9% from last fall's premiere and 5% from last spring. This is first time a "Dancing" premiere has climbed in the ratings since 2007.

The show's producers had to scramble after dancing celebs Nancy O'Dell and Jewel dropped out last week. But the eleventh-hour casting of scorned "Bachelor" contestant Melissa Rycroft was a stroke-of-genius move that not only capitalized on the dating competition’s success this season, but also managed to extend ABC's Monday night reality show "story" from one series to another. Complete with a judge praising Rycroft's performance and dissing her ex-fiance Jason Mesnick, last night's "Dancing" debut played like a feel-good "Bachelor" finale do-over with Cinderella finally going to the ball.

"Dancing" led in to the series premiere of the Nathan Fillion mystery comedy "Castle" (11.6 million, 3.3/9), which opened with a number that would have been more impressive if not for its enormous lead-in. "Castle" placed second in the hour, and outperformed the average of "Boston Legal" in the time period and was on par with the year-ago debut of "Bachelor: London" in the spot.

Fox ranked second with "House" (12.1 million, 4.8/13), down 13% from its last episode to post its lowest number in four years, and "24" (11.3 million, 3.6/9), which improved slightly from last week's two-hour run.  

That left CBS in an uncharacteristic third place among total viewers and the demo, with lower-than-usual (and up against stiffer competition than usual) episodes of "Big Bang Theory" (9.5 million, 3.6/10), "How I Met Your Mother" (8.5 million, 3.5/9), "Two and a Half Men" (13.3 million, 4.7/11) and "Rules of Engagement" (10 million, 3.7/9). "Rules" was down but slightly from last week's premiere. CBS re-asserted itself at 10 p.m. with hour-topping "CSI: Miami" (14.1 million, 4.3/11).

Fourth-place NBC had some bad news for "Chuck" (5.7 million, 2.0/5) fans. The show fell 17% from last week to a serious series low. "Heroes" (6.6 million, 3.2/8) matched last week's preliminary-rating series low. Yet "Medium" (7.1 million, 2.5/6) was up a tick. The CW continued crossing a desert of "Gossip Girl" repeats.

UPDATE: In the nationals, the "Dancing" finale improved to 22.8 million viewers and 6.1 rating, while "Castle" crumbled to 10.6 million and a 3.0 rating.

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Comments

[Stefan]

the fall of HEROES is great - season 2 was horrible but villains topped that without any doubt - many have jumped the ship - this show is toast

[nyguy]

Looks like you'll have to eat that toast Stefan, Heroes is picked up next year. Can I get you some jam and butter to make it taste better?

[bing]

you lost me ---toomany thugs on this show...half of Amercian can relate so maybe that is why the higher ratings ....but you lost your core audience.

[bender123]

IT WAS WOZ!!!! WOZ! WOZ! WOZ!

[Heatherfeather]

Weapons of Mass Distraction.

[DS]

heroes, lost, me as well there is a time and place for normal tv viewing instead of trying to figure out what did i just watch?

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[When can I attend the next Darwin Awards?]

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[Capt. Kirk]

So this makes the news?????

[no]

One stupid show gets higher ratings than another show among stupid public. Shocker. Who cares? Nobody with a triple digit IQ even watches network television anymore. Other than the first season of Heroes, I can't recall the last time I watched something on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, UPN or PBS. Actually, I didn't even watch Heroes, either - I grabbed the whole season via torrent.

[Mikey M]

Someone please explain to me why the masses watch this, the Bachelor and Deal or No Deal? Why does everyone's IQ drop when they put the TV on.
All this is, is the Lawrence Welk show and Dance Fever updated.
Why???

[RJ Johnson]

Comparing the ratings of the of the premiere of DWTS to the third, added, night of IDOL last Thursday is just silly. The writer doesn't know TV and TV ratings.

[JR]

Normally thats true but ANY SHOW doing more viewers than an episode of freaking AMERICAN IDOL is worth noting. Especially another reality show.

[Kate]

Why does FOX keeps changing the day and the time for House? It wasn't on last week so I didn't even bother checking last night.

I love House but if I need to consult my TV Guide every week just to catch it, forget about it. I'll wait for re-runs!

[B]

Special Thursday episodes of Idol have historically drawn much lower viewership than their regular Tuesday and Wednesday counterparts, so comparing the PREMIERE of another show to Idol on an off-night is a little deceptive...

[Evets]

So many are so eager to bring idol down.

No wonder, when you look at our current world, what with all the killings, rapes, muggings, drugs, open sex, etc., that people are now hating on something clean and entertaining.

[JAMES HIBBERD]

The point of the line wasn't to say "Dancing" is going to be more popular than "American Idol." The idea was to use "Idol" to lend some perspective to the success of the "Dancing" premiere ratings.

Most weeks the ratings look like the chart at the bottom of this story --

http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/03/weekly-ratings-recap-fox-wins-four-nights.html

-- with "Idol" filling the top spots. For another reality show to post a number big enough to compete in a realm normally occupied only by "Idol" is a real accomplishment (yes, even for a premiere). The "Dancing" premiere audience matched Wednesday's "Idol" too.

One certainly expects "Dancing" to drop in the coming weeks, as "Idol" has dropped since its debut. But given the "Dancing" opener, I wouldn't be surprised if the margin between the shows was tighter than ever.

[Steve]

That just means that both shows suck

[Kerry Johnston]

The reason people watch mind numbing shows like American Idol and their like are many but in these tough times, a little escape and silliness is welcome after watching the news and becoming thoroughly depressed. Another killing rampage? No thanks.

I think the reason American Idol is losing viewers is twofold. The judges persistently diss the contestants from other seasons and this turns off those who have invested time and emotion in their success. People care about these idols and to see the pathetic judges laugh at them in their snide asides is a real turn off. Secondly, the new female judge has added nothing. Another Simon "yes girl" who tows the line.

I still like to watch the contestants but I'm going to mute the judges.