TV Ratings: Wednesday, January 7, 2009

"People's Choice Awards" and Barbara Walters interview with Patrick Swayze took top honors last night; "Knight Rider" continued to post lackluster ratings.

Most of the programming on Wednesday was in repeats. CW's new show "Fear is Real" got off to a very modest start, even by lax netlet standards. The 2-hour "People's Choice Awards" averaged about 9 million viewers.

The night's top show was the Barbara Walters interview with actor Patrick Swayze who opened up about his battle with cancer (12.57 million viewers, 3.1 among 18-49).

Although the CBS awards show generated the night's highest demo figures between 9-10pm (3.2), the entire 2-hour ceremony averaged 2.9, behind Barbara Walters' 3.1.

8:00
CBS New Adventures of Old Christine (Repeat) 8,22 million
FOX Bones (Repeat) 6,63 million
NBC Knight Rider 5,70 million
ABC Scrubs (Repeat) 4,50 million
CW NEW: Fear is Real 2,39 million

8:30
CBS Gary Unmarried (Repeat) 7,36 million

9:00
CBS People’s Choice Awards 10,21 million
ABC 20/20 7,99 million
NBC Law & Order: SVU (Repeat) 7,42 million
FOX Bones (Repeat) 6,52 million
CW 90210 (Repeat) 1,08 million

10:00
ABC Barbara Walters Special 12,57 million
NBC Law & Order 10,11 million
CBS People’s Choice Awards 8,42 million