Television Ratings

Everyone knows who Hannah Montana is. But perhaps only kids know she's been unseated as TV's reigning tween queen by one Carly Shay. When no one was looking, Carly, the plucky 15-year-old star of the Nickelodeon comedy "iCarly," overtook Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana" -- and this year, "American Idol" -- in the ratings race for young audiences. Miranda Cosgrove, who plays Carly, is still a name that draws quizzical looks while Miley Cyrus sells out Cineplexes and concert stadiums.

On June 1, the premiere of "The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien" began with a filmed piece that found the tall, skinny host, dressed in suit and tie, jogging across America to get to his new studio in Universal City. But O'Brien might need to pick up the pace. After a strong start in the ratings, "Tonight" is already slipping behind CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman," the rival program that O'Brien's predecessor Jay Leno defeated handily for years.

Like the Arizona Cardinals, who watched their lead over the Pittsburgh Steelers crumble away in the final seconds of Sunday's Super Bowl, the game's TV ratings fell just short of a history-making performance. An average of 95.4 million viewers tuned in to NBC's telecast, according to figures from Nielsen Media Research. That represented a drop of only 2% from last year's record-breaking game on Fox, when the New York Giants pulled off an upset of the New England Patriots.

Call it the Marion Cotillard Effect. Few American moviegoers had heard of the French actress before she won the Academy Award last year for her performance in the art-house film "La Vie en Rose." That year also marked the lowest ratings ever for an Oscar telecast. Publicly, executives of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and ABC, which has broadcast the show annually since 1976, shrugged off the sinking ratings.

The addition of a fourth judge didn't help "American Idol's" ratings. The show's two-hour Season 8 premiere on Fox on Tuesday gathered 30.1 million total viewers -- still a very impressive figure, but a decline of 10% compared with last year's premiere and the lowest "Idol" season launch since January 2004. With new judge Kara DioGuardi added to the familiar judging trio of Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, "Idol" averaged an 11.

When the producers of "American Idol" announced the addition of a fourth judge as well as various other tweaks this season, the Fox network cautioned that it didn't expect the moves to reverse the ratings declines for TV's No. 1 show. And they haven't. Through five weeks, Season 8 of "Idol" has slipped 8% compared with last season to 26.8 million total viewers and is down 14% in the advertiser-friendly demographic adults ages 18 to 49, according to data from Nielsen Media Research.

WHEN NBC's Golden Globes telecast devolved into a fiasco earlier this month, with ratings skidding more than 70%, it seemed to hammer home the conventional wisdom about the writers strike. The strike by the Writers Guild of America, you'll recall, was supposed to be a disaster for TV ratings. Once they realized their favorite shows were no longer airing original episodes, angry and bereft viewers would go berserk, smash their flat-screens and spend all their newfound free time on Facebook.com.

The strike by the Writers Guild of America ended not a moment too soon for Jay Leno. After 100 days, the guests were wearing thin. Larry the Cable Guy made his fourth appearance just this week on NBC's "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno." Animal ambassador Joan Embery -- the sixth animal act in as many weeks -- dropped by with another passel of critters.

Having learned to wait a week, which is how long it took the horror stories to surface after last season's Battle of Las Vegas All-Star game, I think it's safe to say: This year's All-Star game went great! NBA Cares looked like a truism, not an ad campaign. The All-Stars competed, as they do about every five years. Even the lame dunk contest came alive as a caped Dwight Howard flew through the air and Gerald Green blew out a candle on the back of the iron.

When veteran Los Angeles news anchors Harold Greene and Ann Martin were felled by a round of jobs cuts last week, they were in good company. At least 160 employees at CBS Corp.-owned television stations in 13 cities were let go, including such seasoned broadcasters as prominent Chicago anchor Diann Burns, renowned Boston sportscaster Bob Lobel and longtime Minneapolis meteorologist Paul Douglas.