Los Angeles Isn't in the United States . . .

. . . let me explain.

Look at the top ten shows in the local market (and local viewer totals) as reported by the LA Times (and compiled by Nielsen Market Research) for Feb 5-11, sorry no link, you'll have to take my word that these numbers appeared in the print edition (probably they're prohibited from listing them online by Nielsen, but seems like 'fair use' to me, so I say go ahead and sue me).

Since they've started counting Spanish speaking households, shows in Spanish frequently dominate the top ten.

Let's do a countdown of the top ten.

#10 La Fea Mas Bella (Wed) 935,000 viewers (75th National)
You may think that sounds similar to Ugly Betty, and you'd be right. The original that started it all was Betty La Fea, this latest version is the Mexican version (Betty La Fea is Colombian). This isn't a sequel, it's a Mexican-ized reimagining of the original show, cause it turns out, Colombia and Mexico, two seperate countries and cultures, who knew? This show has been on air locally for many months, and always appears near the top of local ratings (it's also interesting to note the relative 'ugliness' of the various Bettys, they're all really, really hot actresses when not in 'Betty' drag (and even in 'Betty' drag sometimes) want proof, visit this Spanish language web page and scroll down).

#9 House 943,000 viewers (4th national)
Meh, never liked the show. Hugh Laurie is much more interesting (and funny) when he's speaking in his native British.

#8 American Idol (Wed) 1,036,000 viewers (2nd national)
The last of the 'lousy' Idols, this was billed from the start as the worst of the worst and the freakiest of the freaky. Really no compelling reason to watch when it's sold like that, yet people aplenty watched indeed.

#7 La Fea Mas Bella (Thu) 1,083,000 viewers (77th national)
Nothing more to say, a local phenomenon (and nationally, not so much).

#6 La Fea Mas Bella (Mon) 1,120,000 viewers (71st national)
Ditto above

#5 Grey's Anatomy 1,164,000 viewers (3rd national)
Another show where the popularity of said show utterly escapes me. Isn't this just another bad doctor show with lots of random hook-ups?

#4 La Fea Mas Bella (Tue) 1,167,000 (72nd national)
More Mexican Betty. Also, in case you didn't know, La Fea Mas Bella runs Lunes a Viernes a las Ocho en Canal 34 en Los Angeles! (so that means Friday's episode failed to make the top ten, guess Friday's are still for partying)

#3 USA v Mexico soccer match 1,192,000 (73rd national)
Bet you didn't even know that USA and Mexico had a game last Wednesday. I sure didn't. It was a lousy friendly even, it didn't count for anything, yet over 1 million (Spanish speaking) Angelinos tuned in to watch two teams with mediocre prospects in international competitions. Part of why this match may have been watched was, first, it wasn't here, it was in Phoenix, when they play here it sells out, but Team USA chooses to wisely bypass Los Angeles, cause it's foolish to give up your home field advantage (Mexico's the home team as far as local soccer fans ar concerned). Second, the brand new Mexican coach, Hugo Sanchez (that's Sanchez, my boy, I said Sanchez, not Chavez) was talking up the Mexican team, and they promised to reverse years of dominance at the hands of the US squad. National pride was at stake in this game, and the results were the same as most of their recent matches, a 2-0 domination by Team USA (Woohoo!).
P.S.: I still don't care.

#2 Grammy Awards 1,233,000 viewers (6th national)
Avoiding Idol helped boost the Grammy ratings. They still sucked, though. One of the most unwatchable annual events on television (though I can't say for sure, all I caught was the 'in memoriam' montage). Interesting to note that it did better locally than in the rest of the country. It's an awards show, for coastal audiences, awarded by coastal voters, with awards given to bands most likely only appealing to coastal audiences (case in point, the reviled by actual Country Music fans, Dixie Chicks).

#1 American Idol (Tue) 1,348,000 viewers (1st national)
The Idol juggernaut continues. Nothing else to say really.



Local viewing habits are interesting, though.

Bet you didn't expect to see a soccer friendly in the top 5 of a major American television market.

I sure didn't expect to see that match in there (which was the main excuse I gave myself for creating this post).