Ratings: 'Talent,' Fawcett and Jackson specials dominate week

Finally! A week when a CBS repeat did not take the top ratings spot. For the week ending June 28, the Tuesday premiere of NBC's America's Got Talent finshed No. 1, reeling in 11.5 million viewers. The show's second airing of the week also fared well on Wednesday, drawing 10.4 million viewers to land at No. 3. (For the record, a CBS repeat -- of NCIS -- did finish second.)

Last year's Talent premiere nabbed 12.8 million viewers, so this year's premiere was down by a startling 1.3 million viewers. So much for that supposed Susan Boyle effect! (Many had speculated that all of the Boyle hubbub would goose the ratings for the American version of Talent.) Still, AGT did help prop up the Wednesday premiere of No. 16 The Philanthropist, which drew 7.1 million viewers.

The biggest entertainment news stories of the week -- the deaths of Michael Jackson and Charlie's Angels star Farrah Fawcett -- had a big impact on television ratings, as the networks scrambled to put together specials that celebrated the entertainers. ABC's 20/20 earned the largest audiencefor their Thursday night special about Fawcett (which landed at No. 8 with 8.2 million viewers). CBS News, serving up a special on Jackson on the same night, clocked in at No. 13 with 7.5 million viewers.

In other new shows for the week, Fox's two editions of So You Think You Can Dance appeared at No. 11 and 18 with 7.6 and 6.9 million viewers, respectively. The full listing -- with viewership totals -- is after the jump.

TV Ratings: Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett continue to dominate with viewers

The week's two iconic celebrity deaths continued to dominate a weekend television lineup otherwise filled with typical summer reruns and burnoffs. A repeat airing of May's Farrah's Story documentary, about Fawcett's grueling battle with cancer, drew 4.7 million viewers to NBC on Friday -- beating CBS' usually solid lineup of crime-show repeats such as Ghost Whisperer (4.3 million) -- while 20/20's hour of Michael Jackson coverage averaged 3.7 million. At 10 p.m., however, 6.6 million tuned into NBC's Dateline dedicated to Jackson, winning the hour (and helping win the night) for the net. On Saturday, meanwhile, CBS' murder-mystery Harper's Island (3.5 million) continued to win the battle-of-the-canceled-shows against ABC's Eli Stone (2.7 million) and NBC's Kings (1.5 million)

Ratings: NBC's 'America's Got Talent' helps out 'The Philanthropist'

The series premiere of NBC's The Philanthropist got a big boost from its 9-10 p.m. lead-in, America's Got Talent, which was Wednesday's most-watched show. By the end of the 10 p.m. hour, though, The Philanthropist had lost 17 percent of its audience and ended up tying with a CSI: NY rerun in terms of average viewership. ABC's Wipeout edged out Fox's SYTYCD at 8 p.m., though the two shows earned identical ratings for Adults 18-49.

Ratings: 'The Bachelorette' scores, 'I'm a Celebrity...' snores on Monday

ABC's The Bachelorette scored the highest ratings on Monday night for a non-repeat, according to preliminary overnight ratings. The dating competition drew 6.8 million viewers, a slight increase from last week's 6.5 million. Meanwhile, NBC's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! continues to dip, perhaps due to the lack of Speidi drama; the reality series only reached 4.3 million eyes, a drop from last week's 4.7 million.

Ratings: CBS rules week with repeats, Fox's 'Dance' is top fresh show

You know the doldrums of summer TV on the broadcast nets have hit when the top five slots for ratings ending June 21 go to repeats on CBS. Yes, yet again, a repeat of CBS' powerhouse NCIS topped the charts with 10.4 million viewers, followed by old episodes of network siblings Two and a Half Men (10.2 million), The Mentalist (10.1 million), CSI (9.7 million), and another installment of The Mentalist (9 million).

The week's first new show popped up at No. 6, where Fox's So You Think You Can Dance sashayed in with 8.5 million viewers for its Wednesday night performance episodes. The Thursday night results show, which saw two dancers sent home, showed up at No. 10 with 8 million viewers. (It tied for the spot with a new episode of ABC's Wipeout and a repeat of CBS' Criminal Minds.) For the time being, the dancing hit is summer's biggest new show, but that's before tonight's premiere of NBC's sure-to-be-powerful America's Got Talent, which will likely top next week's chart.

Beyond CBS' 60 Minutes (No. 8 with 8.3 million viewers), ABC's The Bachelorette (No. 15 with 6.8 million viewers), and NBC's Dateline (No. 20 with 5.7 million viewers), the rest of the Top 20 is -- no surprise here -- repeats. The full list, with viewership totals, after the jump.

Jeff Garlin talks about his upcoming Jennifer Aniston movie

He may have once told EW that "nobody wants to see me make out on screen with Jennifer Aniston," but Jeff Garlin is doing the next best thing: costarring in her next film. The Curb Your Enthusiasm star just signed on to play a gruff bail bondsman helping to track down Aniston's character in the upcoming comedy Bounty Hunter, now shooting in New York City.

Garlin tells EW that he jumped at the role mainly because of the guy playing his fellow bounty-hunter best friend (and Aniston's ex): "It's with Gerard Butler -- need I say more? He's the coolest, he's the best. And they paid me what I wanted."

Garlin is cramming the project into an already-busy season. His comedy special, Young and Handsome, debuts on DVD July 7 and airs on Comedy Central in the fall, while Curb Your Enthusiasm returns to HBO for another guest-star-tastic season this fall.

Ratings: People love CBS repeats and Fox's dancing foxes

CBS swept Thursday night with its roster of trusty repeats, while Fox's So You Think You Can Dance elimination hour earned by far the highest ratings for Adults 18-49. Meanwhile, the third installment of The Listener, NBC's new procedural about a telepathic paramedic, continued to struggle; its viewership was down another 15 percent from last week's episode. On the upside, "telepathic paramedic" turns out to be a fairly easy-to-master tongue twister. Say it five times fast in a sentence this weekend.

Ratings: 'Wipeout,' 'SYTYCD' lead Wednesday

ABC's Wipeout and Fox's So You Think You Can Dance continued to dominate the Wednesday night TV-scape. Wipeout drew the most viewers in the 8-9 p.m. hour, but SYTYCD's average viewership ended up higher, thanks to a two-hour performance episode. Season 2 of ABC's I Survived a Japanese Game Show debuted to a disappointing 5.4 million viewers -- the series' first season averaged around 8 million viewers last summer.

David Letterman protest: On the scene as Sarah Palin supporters sound off in New York

A larger-than-usual crowd gathered across the street from New York’s Ed Sullivan Theatre today -- but they weren’t tourists looking for tickets to David Letterman’s Late Show. Rather, dozens of protesters holding signs reading “Dirty Ole Man” or “We are ALL the Palins,” showed up to urge CBS to penalize, suspend, or just outright fire Letterman for his self-admitted “flawed” sexually charged joke about Sarah Palin’s daughter. “I’m outraged,” said protester Josephine Sarno, who held a sign reading “Over the line, Dave.” “It was a low blow. I’m insulted for women. I’m insulted for children. I’m insulted for families. I’m insulted.”

Other protesters took a more blunt approach, screaming for surrounding gawkers to take their children home to “keep them safe from David Letterman’s mouth!” And most at the scene were unwilling to accept the talk show host’s two apologies to the Alaska governor. (Earlier today, before the protest began, Palin accepted Letterman’s apology.) “I think he was sincerely sorry that his joke had got him into trouble,” said Susan, a protester who held a sign that read “We’re Not Gonna Take It Anymore.” “I think apologies are wonderful and I hope he feels in his heart sorry for what he did. But it’s not okay enough for me. It seems like the only group that’s okay to bash all you want is pro-life women. You can say anything ugly you want. You can drag us through the mud, and nobody cares.” Although many were demanding Letterman’s termination, others were just hoping that CBS would make an example of the talk show host, much like MSNBC did when the network suspended David Shuster last year for suggesting that the Clintons had “pimped out” their daughter, Chelsea. “Is it okay because Bristol Palin had a baby, it’s okay now to drag her through the mud?” said Susan. “Barack Obama’s mom was [a teen] when she got pregnant with him. Is it okay to make jokes about her and his conception? It’s not right.”

Just feet away from the protesters, however, a group of Letterman supporters gathered with their own smattering of signs, like “You lost, now go away” and “Sarah needs a life.” And although one supporter seemed intent on hamming it up for cameras -- he spent most of the protest thrashing on the floor while screaming -- others had a more tactile approach. Two supporters, Tracy Barber and David Heller, expressed disappointment that Palin would accuse Letterman of making a joke about statutory rape when her own legislation forced rape victims to pay for their rape kits, as many news outlets reported during last year’s election. “Just the idea that Palin is pro-woman [is ridiculous], you know?” Barber said. “We love David Letterman. He’s a New York institution. And we believe that free speech is always more important than whether or not it’s in taste.”

But not everyone was so diplomatic. Said an attendee who preferred to remain anonymous: “She should be thankful that Dave or anybody said anything about her to keep her name in the papers.... I think she should keep her mouth shut, go back to Alaska, and maybe take a few of the Republicans that are here back with her.”

Ratings: CBS reruns score on Monday

ABC's summer hit The Bachelorette stayed strong this week, with total viewership dipping only 3 percent from last week. NBC's I'm a Celebrity..., which has been losing its audience since its June 1 premiere, remained afloat this week; looks like those 5 million people have been roped in to Janice Dickinson's adventures in public urination for good. CBS drew in the highest total viewership on Monday night by offering four reliable half-hour reruns.