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May 17, 2006
'The West Wing' Leaves Office With a High Approval Rating
By John Maynard
Washington Post
"The West Wing's" final season in office might have been a tough one in terms of ratings, but the show ended on an upswing.
The NBC political drama, which bid viewers farewell Sunday night, drew its biggest audience of the season: 10 million watched Martin Sheen's President Bartlet fly back to New Hampshire while Jimmy Smits's President Santos settled into the White House.
"The West Wing" averaged 8.1 million viewers this season, far from the glory days when it drew more than 17 million.
"Malcolm in the Middle" also left the airwaves Sunday to its season's best numbers. The show, which was averaging less than 4 million viewers, attracted 7.4 million for the finale. To boost "Malcolm's" fortunes, Fox aired the finale after "The Simpsons" instead of its regular 7 p.m. time slot.
CBS's "Survivor" franchise closed out its 12th installment with an audience of 17.1 million, the reality show's smallest season finale yet. The show suffered early this season when it went up against two other reality-show hits: ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" and Fox's "American Idol," which, during its first weeks, aired opposite "Survivor."
In the battle of dueling magicians, David Blaine burst Keith Barry's bubble. Blaine's breath-holding exercise May 8 in front of Lincoln Center attracted 10 million rubberneckers for ABC; Barry's celebrity-laden, card-trick and sleight-of-hand fest Friday night on CBS mustered just more than half that number.
In the network news wars, "CBS Evening News" was No. 2, ahead of ABC's "World News Tonight" for the first time in five years. The Bob Schieffer-led newscast, soon to be anchored by Katie Couric, averaged nearly 7.4 million viewers, just 80,000 more than ABC. NBC's "Nightly News" was first again, with 8.4 million.
The week's top 10 programs, in order, were: Fox's Tuesday and Wednesday "American Idol"; CBS's "CSI"; Fox's "House"; ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" and "Desperate Housewives"; CBS's "CSI: Miami," "Without a Trace," Sunday's "Survivor" finale and Thursday's "Survivor."
Posted by Jo at May 17, 2006 09:03 AM