Weekly Ratings: 2/1 – 2/6

Sunday Ratings: Super Bowl XLIII Fails to Sack Last Year's Record High

NBC's coverage of Super Bowl XLIII averaged 95.4 million total viewers, making it the second-highest-rated Super Bowl of all time, according to updated Nielsen ratings.

The showdown between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals delivered a 42.1 rating and a 65 share, scoring highest in the Pittsburgh (duh), Norfolk, Va. and Jacksonville, Fla. markets, NBC said.

Last year's match-up between the Giants and Patriots was the most-watched Super Bowl ever, with an audience of 97.5 million. On the list of most-watched TV broadcasts in history, these past two Super Bowls place second and third behind the series finale of M*A*S*H (106 million viewers).

NBC's special broadcast of The Office tackled an audience of 22 million viewers. That's nearly double the comedy's previous record and represents the biggest viewership of any NBC entertainment telecast in more than four-and-a-half years (since the May 13, 2004 episode of ER).

Opposite the Super Bowl, ABC, CBS and Fox threw out almost entirely repeats. Fighting the good fight for the CW, meanwhile, was a broadcast of that ageless chestnut Throw Momma from the Train, which averaged 696,000 viewers.

Monday Ratings: Chuck Reaches Out and Touches a Season High

8 pm/ET
House won the hour with 14.75 million total viewers, dropping 810,000 from last week's season high. The Bachelor averaged 10.99 mil over its two-hour run (a new season high), but got bested by The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men along the way. Speaking of CBS' sitcoms, Big Bang dipped 200K to 10.9 mil, while How I Met Your Mother (10.18 mil) slipped 580 thou. Chuck's Super Bowl-promoted 3-D outing delivered 8.35 mil, for its best audience of the season. Gossip Girl (2.27 mil) inched up a hair from its season low.

9 pm
Both CBS' Men (16.52 million viewers) and Worst Week (10.05 mil) each gained about 500K. At 11.28 mil, 24 was down 830K, while the opening of Heroes' "Fugitives" chapter (8.46 mil) surged nine percent from the "Villains" finale. (Also of note, Heroes notched its best audience since Oct. 20.) One Tree Hill held steady at 2.6 mil.

10 pm
CSI: Miami gained 10 percent to deliver its largest audience since the season premiere — 16 million viewers. Medium was welcomed back by 8.53 million (on par with its last season finale), while True Beauty (6.82 mil) dipped a well-coiffed hair.

Tuesday Ratings: Great Scott! Fringe Uncovers Another Big Audience

8 pm/ET
American Idol cued up another million total viewers week-to-week to top the hour with an audience of 26.28 mil. Trailing an NCIS repeat (14.36 mil), Biggest Loser averaged 10.5 mil over its two-hour run, shedding 500,000 viewers. Behind Homeland Security (5.68 mil), 90210 (2.44 mil) was up a hair.

9 pm
A repeat of The Mentalist won the hour with a cool 15 million viewers. In second, Fringe scared up its second-largest audience ever — 13.04 mil, up 900K —and matched its best delivery in key demos. The takeway here? Encourage costars to secretly marry. Averaging 4.8 mil across two episodes, Scrubs slipped 280 thou. Privileged inched up to 1.7 mil, its best audience since Nov. 11.

10 pm
Without a Trace dropped 760K but still bested SVU, 12 mil to 10.32 mil. (SVU, though, was No. 1 in the demos.) The answer to ABC's What Would You Do? (5.8 mil, down 500K) increasingly seems to be, "Watch the other networks."

Wednesday Ratings: Life Makes a Lively Comeback

8 pm/ET
American Idol eliminated 750,000 viewers, but of course still won the hour with an audience of 26.26 million. Lagging behind a Criminal Minds repeat, Knight Rider dropped off 19 percent of its previous audience, hitting 4.94 mil. ABC's enhanced Lost repeat drew 4.8 mil.

9 pm
Fox's Lie to Me stayed on top with 13 million viewers, up 900K from last week. Lost tied the Fox newbie in the demos while holding steady at 11 million viewers. NBC's Life returned to an audience of 6.76 mil, surging 30 percent from its last fresh outing. Katie Couric's Grammy special cued up 6.8 mil, but was bested by Life in its back half-hour.

10 pm
Law & Order won the time period with 8.7 million viewers, followed by a CSI: NY repeat (7.54 mil) and Life on Mars (6.02 mil, down 480 thou).

Thursday Ratings: Crossover Is Just What the Doctors Ordered!

8 pm/ET
Bones won the hour with 10.76 million total viewers, a gain of 760,000 from its Thursday time-slot premiere. Ugly Betty placed a distant second with 7.27 mil, dropping 270K. NBC's Earl and Kath & Kim both trailed CBS comedy repeats, delivering 6.16 mil (down 340K) and six mil (down 200K), respectively. Smallville slipped 300 thou, to 3.88 mil.

9 pm
With CSI taking a siesta, Grey's Anatomy surged 900K to deliver 15.2 million total viewers. While NBC's The Office (8.4 mil) dropped 340K from its last Thursday outing, 30 Rock (6.33 mil, and guest-starring a charming Jon Hamm) dipped only a hair. Supernatural (3.34 mil) slipped 240 thou (but how about that brotherly smackdown?!).

10 pm
Goosed by the onset of its multi-episode crossover with Grey's, Private Practice saw 13 million viewers — a 35 percent gain from its last typical outing, and exhibiting none-too-bad audience erosion over the hour. That nifty number also marks a season high and the spin-off's second-largest viewership ever. OK, let's throw this in, too — this week's Private delivered the best-ever retention (86 percent) for a telecast airing after Grey's. Hey, I'm just the messenger, Six Degrees and Notes from the Underbelly. Trailing an Eleventh Hour repeat, ER (7.3 mil) fell 400K.

Friday Ratings: Friday Night Lights Digs Up a Few More Fans

8 pm/ET
Ghost Whisperer was the night's most watched program, with 11.39 million total viewers (up 120K from its last fresh episode). Howie Do It continues to do less and less well, this week dropping to 4.36 mil (trailing Wife Swap). Everybody Hates Chris (1.36 mil) plunged 28 percent.

9 pm
A(nother?!) Flashpoint repeat topped the hour with 9.6 million viewers, followed by Supernanny (6.5 mil). Scoring 4.22 mil in its fourth week, Friday Night Lights enjoyed a five percent uptick. The CW's 13: Fear Is Real is really waning, dropping 16 percent to 840,000.

10 pm
Numbers won the hour with 10.18 million viewers, slipping six percent.