Viewers drawn to ‘Dancing’ stars

During what is normally the year’s quietest TV week, the only things making noise were the shoes gliding across the stage on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.”

The next-to-last episode of ABC’s ballroom dancing series was seen by 18.6 million viewers last week, according to Nielsen Media Research. It was by far the July 4 holiday week’s most popular program and one of only five programs to reach an audience of more than 10 million.

ABC has been repeating the previous week’s “Dancing With the Stars” episode right before the new one on Wednesday night – and even that telecast made Nielsen’s top 10.

With its strong lineup of repeats, CBS again won the week, averaging 7.1 million viewers in prime time (4.9 rating, 9 share). ABC (4.0, 8) and NBC (4.2, 8) were in a dead heat with 5.9 million viewers, Fox had 4.3 million (2.9, 5), UPN 2.4 million (1.6, 3) and the WB 2.1 million (1.4, 3).

A ratings point represents 1,096,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation’s estimated 109.6 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

The top 10 shows for the week ending Sunday: “Dancing With the Stars,” ABC, 18.6 million viewers; “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS, 13.3 million; “Without a Trace,” CBS, 11.4 million; “CSI: Miami,” CBS, 10.7 million; “Two and a Half Men,” CBS, 10.6 million; “Everybody Loves Raymond,” CBS, 9.7 million; “Law & Order,” NBC, 9.3 million; “Dancing With the Stars” (Wednesday, 8 p.m.), ABC, 9.3 million; Auto Racing: Daytona 400, NBC, 8.3 million; “CSI: NY,” CBS, 7.7 million.