Weekly Ratings: 5/3 – 5/8

Ratings Catch-Up: Cold Case Heats Up, Castle Builds

The Nielsen ratings reporting system is fixed, following a several-day glitch which kept the networks (as well as moi) in the dark.

Now we can bring you highlights from the start of the week; Tuesday and Wednesday's numbers will trickle in over the next day or so.

SUNDAY

9 pm
Desperate Housewives won the 9 o'clock hour with an audience of 13.48 million total viewers, flat week-to-week. The penultimate episode of Cold Case's sixth season drew 12.46 mil, surging 19 percent to deliver its biggest draw since March 15. The Apprentice gained 510K, hitting 8.68 mil.

10 pm
Climbing 12 percent to seize its largest audience in seven weeks, The Unit bested Brothers & Sisters — 9.97 million viewers to 9.11 mil.

MONDAY

8 pm
Dancing with the Stars averaged 20.28 million viewers over its two-hour run, up 6 percent week-to-week. House scored second with 12.05 mil, up 690K. Big Bang Theory (9.25 mil) and Mother (8.89 mil) matched previous tallies. Deal or No Deal returned to an audience of 4.36 mil — or 29 percent fewer viewers than Chuck pulled. Put that in your foot long and smoke it! Gossip Girl (2.22 mil) gained 200 thou.

9 pm
Two and a Half Men (14.17 mil) and Rules of Engagement (11.33 mil) held steady, while 24 (10.11 mil) turned 450 thou fewer head(butt)s. Medium averaged 7.24 mil over its back-to-back episodes, up 520K. One Tree Hill tallied a typical 2.23 mil.

10 pm
CSI: Miami topped the hour with 13.72 mil, surging 15 percent. Gaining DWTS as a direct lead-in, Castle soared 19 percent to flirt with 10 mil.

Thursday Ratings: Big Wedding Turnout Powers Grey's Past CSI

8 pm/ET
Survivor topped the hour with 11.97 million total viewers, up 240K week-to-week. Bones followed with 8.62 mil, dipping 210 thou. Claiming third was Ugly Betty, which surged 10 percent to 7.5 mil. Both NBC's My Name Is Earl (4.43 mil, -16 percent) and Parks and Recreation (4.64 mil, -12 percent) dipped, while Smallville (3.34 mil) inched up 140K.

9 pm
Grey's Anatomy was the night's most watched program, as 15.33 million RSVP'd for not-Meredith's wedding. With CSI dipping 720 thou to 14.57 mil, this marks the first time Grey's has outdrawn the CBS procedural in total viewers since Nov. 1, 2007. Grey's also outperformed CSI in the key demos by its widest margin in two years — 51 percent. NBC's The Office (7.7 mil, +410K) and 30 Rock (6.17 mil, +200K) both saw gains, while Supernatural (2.79 mil) dropped 170 thou.

10 pm
Michael J. Fox's Optimistic special started strong and averaged 10.6 mil for the hour, but ultimately got bested by CBS' CSI repeat come 10:30. NBC's recently renewed Southland slipped 180K, to 6.5 mil.

Friday Ratings: Dollhouse's Engagement Ends with All-Time Low

8 pm/ET
Ghost Whisperer topped the hour with 9.35 million total viewers, dipping 320K week-to-week. (Next week: Season finale!) Prison Break trailed ABC's Happy Feet to claimed third with 3.03 mil, down 5 percent. (Next week: Series finale!)

9 pm
Flashpoint was first with 8.64 million viewers, down 10 percent. Finishing fourth, Dollhouse dropped 11 percent to wrap up its first (only?) season with a series-low audience of 2.76 mil.

10 pm
Numbers was the night's most watched program, adding up 9.52 mil. (Next week: Season finale!)