The TV Zone

Normally don't get into the ratings game, but the first night of the new season is worth noting: "Dancing" came out strong, with 21.1 million viewers, but...that was still down 9 percent from a year ago (per Hollywood Reporter's wrap.) What means this? I'm not sure, other than the fact that the networks have been worried that viewers left network TV during the strike and it's gonna be hard as heck getting 'em back. This seems to indicate that, though "DWTS's" numbers (like most numbers) did soften last season. Much worse news for "Heroes" on Monday, which got only 9.9 million, or down 25 percent from a year ago, for its two hour opener, which I thought was pretty good overall. Of the big guns on Monday, it looks like only "Two and a Half Men" (almost 15 million) did well, up ten percent from last year's opener.

Sunday’s snoozer of an Academy Awards telecast took a nosedive in the Nielsens -- losing more than 8 million viewers from last year's show and 24 percent of its adults 18-49 audience.

More about the numbers here.

Our super-blogging colleague Neil Best has the local Super Bowl ratings over on his Newsday.com sports Watchdog blog.

Meanwhile, the early Nielsen overnights are reported at our friend Marc Berman's daily newsletter The Programming Insider.

Just added there, the updated nationals: "The Giants vs. Patriots match-up averaged an approximate 89.10 million viewers and a 34.8 rating/67 share among adults 18-49 from 7-10 p.m." Wow.

Another wow were the results for a special post-Super Bowl edition of "House" (delayed considerably in the New York market by WNYW's local post-post-game report, which must have hurt the totals): "The Super Bowl Post Game at 10 p.m. scored an estimated 68.32 million viewers and a 28.2/57 among adults 18-49, while the first-half of a edition of 'House' netted 32.78 million viewers and a 14.4/34 in the [18-49] demo at 10:30 p.m."

“Lost” found big ratings for ABC -- big being a relative term in this fragmented era -- and led the network to victory the first night of February sweeps.

Last night’s 9 p.m. season premiere got the series’ best Nielsens in a year, averaging 6.7 in adults 18-49; NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice” and CBS’ “CSI” managed just 2.8 each. Even the “Lost” recap hour at 8 p.m. earned a 4.9, handily beating Fox’ “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” at 3.1.

Thursday’s “Lost” season premiere drew a total of 16 million viewers. (An estimated 8.3 million watched CNN’s Democratic debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.)

More details at the Media Life report here.

“High School Musical 2” premiered Friday night as Disney Channel as the most-watched basic cable telecast of all time.

Yes. All time. Bigger even than -- cover your ears, dad -- NFL football!

“HSM2’s” 17.2 million debut viewers eclipsed ESPN’s Monday Night Football game of last Sept. 25 (the Saints’ post-Katrina return to the New Orleans Superdome) by a whopping 1.2 million viewers.

Take that, “The Closer”! Take that, “Monk”! And take that, “Laguna Beach”!

Plus, let’s not forget, “HSM2” aired twice more over the weekend, adding yet more young eyeballs to its aggregate Nielsen numbers.

Disney’s key demos went through the roof, too. Friday’s premiere was the most watched telecast ever in kids 6-11, and the most watched entertainment telecast (behind only the 2004 Super Bowl) in tweens 9-14. It’s also, clearly, the top-ranked basic cable movie of all time.

Should you have somehow missed this momentous film, “HSM2” airs again Thursday at 8 p.m. on Disney Channel. Last year’s original “High School Musical” comes up to bat this Sunday night at 9.

Cable’s hot summer continues. Ratings are in for Showtime’s Monday debut of “Californication” and third-season return of “Weeds,” and they’re better than ever.

Mary Louise Parker’s acclaimed “Weeds” drew 824,000 viewers -- its biggest audience ever -- and David Duchovny’s very-adult comedy “Californication” held onto 550,000 of them, way more than “Weeds” own 2005 series premiere did.

MTV was hot, too, with Monday night's third season double-dose return of “The Hills” beating every other broadcast and cable network among viewers 12-34, scoring as MTV’s highest-rated telecast so far this year.

Less happy these days is HBO, which announced it’s canceling “John From Cincinnati,” the cosmic surf-clan saga from David Milch. Guess he can go back to those promised “Deadwood” movies now.

Other cable series debuting this summer to critical raves and solid ratings include Lifetime’s hit “Army Wives,” USA’s “Burn Notice,” AMC’s “Mad Men,” FX’ “Damages” and TNT’s “Saving Grace.”

[Above: "Weeds" photo by Cliff Lipson/Showtime.]

It’s not TV. It’s cable.

That’s where some (relatively) big numbers are suddenly being posted by new drama and comedy series, while the one-time-titan broadcast networks spend the summer playing singing bee, fat march and game shows.

Glenn Close’s FX legal thriller “Damages” drew 3.7 million viewers in its Tuesday night debut. That might not sound like much, but it’s more than just about anything on The CW and half the other broadcast network shows, too. (It's also higher than FX fave "Rescue Me.")

Holly Hunter’s hard-edged angel-touch saga “Saving Grace” [TNT photo, right] pulled 6.4 million viewers for its Monday TNT premiere, holding a huge chunk of viewers from smash-hit lead-in “The Closer” (7.2 million viewers). Only the networks’ top 20-ranked programs are reaching more eyeballs.

Add that to such previous ratings-magnets as Lifetime’s new Sunday dramas (“Army Wives” has grown since last month’s premiere to 3.7 million viewers), and you can see how cable is creating a competitive slate. USA’s longrunning “Monk” regularly scores around 5 million viewers, too.

And there’s more to come. TBS’ cult comedy “My Boys” returns Monday for a second season. TNT launches its CIA miniseries “The Company” next Thursday (Aug. 5). Sci Fi has a new “Flash Gordon” Aug. 10, and Showtime stars David Duchovny in the comedy “Californication” Aug. 13 (alongside the return of “Weeds”). Disney should top them all Aug. 17 with its movie sequel “High School Musical 2.”

About 12 million people watched Sunday night's finale of "The Sopranos," reports Television Week here.

That made it the year's most-viewed episode -- yet this season was still the series' lowest-rated in years, said the trade publication.

Sunday night's cut-to-black ending nonetheless stirred "Sopranos" fans enough that the flood of would-be online commenters temporarily crashed HBO's chat boards, where viewers are debating still whether the series' controversial conclusion was brilliant or insulting.

Newsday readers are discussing their reactions by clicking the Comments links below.

Nielsen ratings for Sunday night's 6.5-season premiere of "The Sopranos" are in -- and they're down 19 percent from the previous season start, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That's still 7.7 million viewers.

HBO's "Entourage," airing immediately afterward, did its highest number ever, retaining an audience of 3.8 million.

All the info here.

[HBO photo by Craig Blankenhorn]