Latin Music Proves Big For ‘Dancing With The Stars’

(ABC)

NEW YORK (AP) – Latin music – and Ricky Martin’s hips – proved that it makes for good TV and “Dancing with the Stars” is reaping the benefits.

The hit show’s special Latin music night last week, which also included a health scare for one of the contestants, was the most-watched episode of an unscripted series on air this season, according to the Nielsen ratings company.

“Dancing” finished with just under 16 million viewers, ranking behind only CBS’ “NCIS” and “The Big Bang Theory,” television’s most popular drama and comedy, in the weekly ratings.

"Dancing" contestant Amy Purdy, a double-amputee and Paralympics athlete, was sent to a hospital following back spasms in the episode that aired last week.

NBC brought Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski onto its Kentucky Derby coverage this year, and the telecast was seen by 15.3 million people. That's down from the 16.2 million who watched last year, although last year's race had the biggest audience since 1989.

NBC's "IHeartRadio Music Awards" was one of the most tweeted-about events on TV last week, but that didn't necessarily make it popular with viewers. It was rated No. 49 for the week, with 5.5 million viewers.

CBS won the week in prime time, averaging 8.8 million viewers. ABC had 6.6 million viewers, NBC had 6.1 million, Fox had 3.9 million, Univision had 2.9 million, the CW had 1.5 million, Telemundo had 1.1 million and ION Television had 1 million.

TNT was the week's most popular cable network with the NBC playoffs, averaging 3.23 million viewers in prime time. USA had 1.95 million, History had 1.76 million, TBS had 1.582 million and Nick at Nite had 1.579 million.

NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 9 million viewers. ABC's "World News" was second with 8.1 million, and the "CBS Evening News" had 7 million viewers.

For the week of April 28-May 4, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "NCIS," CBS, 17.25 million; "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 16.07 million; "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 15.88 million; "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 14.83 million; "Blue Bloods," CBS, 11.59 million; "The Voice" (Monday), NBC, 11.58 million; "Person of Interest," CBS, 11.31 million; "The Voice" (Tuesday), NBC, 11.18 million; "The Black List," NBC, 10.85 million; "60 Minutes," CBS, 10.48 million.

Based on reporting by the Associated Press.

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