‘Dancing’ soars, ‘Rosie’ bombs in turkey week rankings

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Thanksgiving tends to produce a big slowdown in network TV ratings, and last week was no exception.

Monday’s performance show of ‘Dancing With the Stars’ gave ABC the week’s most-watched program, with 21.1 million total viewers, according to figures published Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. And Tuesday’s ‘Dancing’ finale ended up with 20.6 million.

Thanks to a football overrun, CBS’ ‘60 Minutes’ continued its surge this season (18.6 million), and ‘NCIS’ had another strong week (18.1 million).

Otherwise, there was little ratings excitement to be had. Rosie O’Donnell bombed spectacularly with ‘Rosie Live,’ NBC’s bid to revive the variety format. The critically drubbed Wednesday special logged 5 million viewers (1.2 rating/4 share in adults ages 18 to 49), for a weak third place in the time slot.

Barbara Walters did better with her Thanksgiving eve interview with President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle (11.6 million), though the ABC special still ran second to CBS’ ‘CSI: NY’ (12.3 million).

Overall, CBS took the prize among total viewers (11 million), followed by ABC (10.3 million), NBC (6.6 million) and Fox (6.1 million).

On basic cable, the week’s most-watched program was ESPN’s Monday match-up between the Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints (11.4 million).

—Scott Collins