Thursday's ratings recap:
8/7 CT
Big Brother 11 topped the hour with an audience of 6.42 million total viewers, up 15 percent week-to-week. The final two episodes of Samantha Who? averaged 3.39 million viewers, placing third behind a Bones repeat.
9/8 CT
So You Think You Can Dance's 100th-episode celebration — featuring a blink-and-you-missed-it performance by Katie Holmes — drew 8.42 million viewers, a 20 percent surge from last week.
10/9 CT
A Mentalist repeat was the night's most watched program, with 9.54 million viewers. NBC's final broadcast airing of The Listener delivered 3.38 mil, dropping 500K. (NBC.com will stream the series' final five episodes in August. )
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Samantha Who?
8:30/7:30 CT ABC
The final bell tolls for the Christina Applegate sitcom just when wedding bells are ringing for Andrea and her gay basketball star fiancé, Tony Dane. It's a big day for Sam, too, as she has to decide whether she wants to be with billionaire Winston Funk (Billy Zane) or Todd. Meanwhile, Howard and Regina have a decision to make when they begin to realize their paths are starting to diverge.
Read on for previews of So You Think You Can Dance, Royal Pains, Southern Belles: Louisville and Wild Russia.
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NBA Draft
7:30 pm/ET ESPN
As if the NBA's worst record in 2008-09 wasn't bad enough for the Kings, they also got the worst pick in the 2009 draft that they could have possibly gotten. Granted, it's only the fourth overall pick, but that is the way the NBA draft-lottery system is set up. Blake Griffin is widely expected to be taken at No. 1 by the Clippers, who managed to grab the top pick in last month's lottery. After the first pick, it gets more murky with Ricky Rubio from Spain and Hasheem Thabeet from UConn.
Read on for previews of So You Think You Can Dance, She's Got the Look, Royal Pains and Samantha Who?.
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Billy Zane seems sometimes like a product of old Hollywood. His classic-movie star looks helped him land the role for which he remains best-known — Cal, Kate Winslet's diabolical fiance in Titanic — as well as his starring role in 1996's The Phantom, another period throwback. His new role on Samantha Who? lands him securely in the here and now, but the past lingers again: He's playing Winston Funk, a character previously played by Timothy Olyphant, who departed to appear on Damages.
Zane's found an easy way to deal with the ghosts of the past, however: ignoring them. To play Funk, for example, he didn't even watch Olyphant's take on the character.
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Thursday's ratings rundown:
8 pm/ET
American Idol played to a special Thursday audience of 22.35 million total viewers, down 650K from last week's results show. CBS' NCAA tourney coverage placed second in every prime-time hour, averaging 10.12 million viewers across the night.
ABC's brand-new In the Motherhood (6.72 mil) and returning Samantha Who? (6.53 mil, down 270 thou from Dec. 1, its last fresh outing) combined for third, but averaged 13 percent less than Ugly Betty's most recent numbers.
Trailing NBC's pairing of Earl (5.87 mil) with an Office repeat, Smallville scored 3.74 mil, surging 14 percent week-to-week.
9 pm
Grey's Anatomy enjoyed CSI's latest bye, topping the hour with 15.8 million viewers, up 10 percent. Hell's Kitchen nipped at basketball's heels, placing third with 10.95 mil. Both NBC's The Office (8.45 mil, +500K) and 30 Rock (7.17 mil, +150K) saw gains, while Supernatural (3.17 mil) was flat. (Be sure to check out next week's high-sterical promo!)
10 pm
With CBS' Eleventh Hour still shot-clock-blocked, Private Practice again claimed No. 1 with an audience of 10.48 mil, up 470 thou. ER gained 700K but still trailed hoops, delivering 10.16 mil.
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