TV Ratings: Thursday (March 27, 2008)

Uh-oh! The 2-hour season finale of NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice" rose to over 12 million viewers winning the night in both total viewers and adults 18-49 (4.5 rating). The Donald will once again think it's the hottest show on TV.

Although this season of "The Apprentice" was a far cry from the buzzworthy season 1 which averaged over 20 million viewers in 2004 (the selection of Bill Rancic as season 1 winner scored almost 30 million viewers), the show did improve significantly from last year's lackluster L.A.-based season 6 which averaged 7.4 million viewers on Sunday nights.

I still wonder if the show would have grown at all if CBS had aired all-new episodes of CSI and ABC had aired all-new episodes of "Grey's Anatomy." I suppose we'll have to wait till 2009 to find out.

Also on Thursday, "Eli Stone" lost some ratings power without the help of an all-new "Lost;" March Madness helped CBS score a solid second place; and CW's top scripted drama "Smallville" rose to almost 4 million viewers.

ABC:
8:00pm Miss Guided (5.95 million)
8:30pm Miss Guided (5.68 million)
9:00pm Lost (R) (5.54 million)
10:02pm Eli Stone (6.52 million)

CBS:
8:00pm NCAA Basketball (9.75 million)

NBC:
8:00pm Deal or No Deal (11.21 million)
9:00pm SEASON FINALE: Celebrity Apprentice (12.08 million)

Fox:
8:00pm Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (8.45 million)
9:00pm Don't Forget the Lyrics! (8.88 million)

CW:
8:00pm Smallville (3.84 million)
9:00pm Reaper (2.86 million)

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