Grammy Awards Take Sunday

By Andrew Krukowski

During a weekend filled with incredibly optimistic news about the immediate end of the writers strike, a mostly unscripted awards show, NASCAR and reruns brought in the viewers.

Sunday
An Amy Winehouse-fueled “50th Annual Grammy Awards” (6.9) propelled CBS to the top spot in the 18 to 49 demographic (5.8), according to preliminary Nielsen numbers.
Bolstered by the fact that there weren’t writers waving placards outside the Staples Center deterring stars from entering, the Grammys won every half-hour between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.
But the awards show was down 16% from last year’s ratings, which hyped a reunion performance from the Police.
ABC placed second (4.3) with new episodes of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (3.0), “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” (5.5) and “Brothers and Sisters” (3.1).
Third-place Fox did win the 7 p.m. hour with Pro Bowl coverage (3.2), giving the channel a 2.8 overall for Sunday.
NBC came in fourth (2.1) with two hours of “American Gladiator” (1.3 and 1.5) reruns and a special, “Top 100 Most Outrageous Moments” (2.8).
The CW placed fifth (0.3) with reruns of its Monday night lineup.

Saturday
NASCAR’s Budweiser Shootout (2.9) gave Fox (2.8) the win on Saturday against a field that didn’t offer much in the way of new content.
A showing of Johnny Depp starrer “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2.4) was second for the night on the second-place channel, ABC, with a 2.3.
Repeats from the “Law & Order” stable (save for “Trial by Jury,” or NBC could have hit for the L&O cycle) landed NBC third with a 1.5.
CBS ranked fourth (1.3) with a repeat and new episodes of “48 Hours Mystery,” (1.2 and 1.8) and a repeat of “Shark” (0.8).

Friday
“Friday Night Lights” fans, and there seem to be quite a few of them, are concerned that Friday’s episode of the high school football drama was its last.
“Lights’” season finale posted a 1.7, second in the time slot against a rerun of “House” (2.4), which ended up winning the night.
Fans of the show are trying to jumpstart a “Jericho”-style mail-in campaign, substituting light bulbs for nuts.
Of course, it doesn’t help when NBC Entertainment chairs say stuff like, “That's the thing with shows. People have to watch them.”
NBC’s utility player, “1 vs. 100” (1.8), and a new episode of “Las Vegas” (2.2) helped NBC snag a Friday tie with Fox (1.9), which was airing repeats.
In third place was CBS (1.6) with its Friday night standards in repeats.
Tied for fourth were ABC (repeats and “20/20”) and The CW (“Friday Night Smackdown!,” which is leaving the network at the end of the season) with a 1.3.