Nielsen’s Top 10 TV Shows of 2009

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by James Hibberd | December 11, 2009 at 8:16 am | View Comments

Here's Nielsen's list of Top 10 TV shows, Top 10 single telecasts and Top 10 time-shifted programs for 2009. Note the measurement company is using household ratings here, a lesser-used measurement for primetime programing that suggests the overall percentage of households that tuned into the show (as opposed to the number of viewers or number of adults 18-49).

The DVR list is probably the most interesting, it's a total geek-fest. We don't often see such lists that include cable programs, and this puts "Battlestar Galactica" and other Syfy shows into the top 10 when using a percentage-gain basis.

Top 10 TV Programs – Regularly Scheduled Programs Network % of Homes in U.S. (Rating)

1 American Idol-Wednesday FOX 14.4
2 American Idol-Tuesday FOX 13.8
3 Dancing with the Stars ABC 12.0
4 NBC Sunday Night Football NBC 11.7
5 Dancing with the Stars – Results Show ABC 9.9
6 NCIS: Los Angeles CBS 9.8
7 NCIS CBS 9.4
8 NFL Regular Season L ESPN 8.8
8 Sunday Night NFL Pre-kick NBC 8.8
10 The Good Wife CBS 8.5 (I'm was surprised by this one, asked Nielsen to double-check and they assure that, yup, "Good Wife," not, say, "Criminal Minds" or "Survivor" or other highly viewed shows, ranks in the Top 10 among households … as pointed out below, repeats are factored in, which gives programs with few repeats an advantage.)

Top 10 TV Programs – Single Telecast

1 Super Bowl XLIII NBC 02/01/2009 42.0
2 Super Bowl Pre-Kick NBC 02/01/2009 35.2
3 Super Bowl Kick-Off NBC 02/01/2009 29.6
4 Super Bowl Post NBC 02/01/2009 25.7
5 AFC Championship On CBS CBS 01/18/2009 22.0
6 Fox NFC Championship FOX 01/18/2009 21.9
7 Academy Awards ABC 02/22/2009 20.6
8 AFC Divisional Playoff CBS 01/11/2009 19.6
9 Fox NFC Playoff FOX 01/11/2009 18.7
10 Fox NFC Wildcard Game FOX 01/04/2009 17.6

Top 10 "Timeshifted" Primetime TV Programs Rank Programs — Network % Increase of Timeshifted Viewing

1 Battlestar Galactica SYFY 59.4
2 Mad Men AMC 57.7
3 Damages FX 56.3
4 Rescue Me FX 53.2
5 True Blood HBO 46.9
5 Stargate Universe SYFY 46.9
7 Sanctuary SYFY 45.9
7 Heroes NBC 45.9
9 Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles FOX 45.5
10 10 Things I Hate About You ABC Family 44.9
10 Dollhouse FOX 44.9
10 Melrose Place CW 44.9