ABC Is the Belle of the Ballroom

Former NFL star kills and the network cleans up in the ratings. No, not O.J. and Fox -- we're talking "Dancing With the Stars" winner Emmitt Smith and ABC.

Here's a look at the week's high-steppers and left feet:

WINNERS

"Dancing With the Stars." Tuesday's final dance-off and Wednesday's season finale, in which that nice Emmitt Smith beat out Mario "Pretty Boy" Lopez, logged 26.8 million and 27.5 million viewers, respectively, giving ABC bragging rights to the season's No. 1- and No. 2-ranked broadcasts and its largest weekly audience in more than nine months. That third-season finale is the dancing competition's biggest crowd ever.

"CSI." Identical-twin murder on "CSI" tops McDreamy and Meredith saving water in the tub on "Grey's Anatomy," to the tune of 3 million viewers. "CSI" also finished in its most competitive position yet with younger viewers against "Grey's."

"Deal or No Deal." On Monday of last week, NBC's screaming-at-briefcases game show posted more than 18 million viewers, nearly doubling its closest competitor in the time slot with the franchise's second-biggest audience on record.

Babs Walters. ABC enjoyed its largest audience in the Thursday 10 p.m. hour in 3 1/2 years with her bait-and-switch special "30 Mistakes in 30 Years."

LOSERS

"30 Rock." In its first night as part of NBC's Thursday lineup, Tina Fey's new sitcom posted its second-smallest audience ever -- a super-sized 5.2 million viewers. For comparison, here's how NBC's other series did on that night: "My Name Is Earl," 9.1 million viewers; "The Office," 8.4 million; "ER," 12.5 million.

"Vanished." Turns out killing the star in the seventh episode wasn't such a good idea after all. Fox has pulled "Vanished," which briefly starred Gale Harold, out of its lineup and will run the remaining episodes on the Internet.

"Standoff." Here's the thing: Fox has ordered more episodes of its new Ron Livingston drama, but last Tuesday it scored its smallest audience yet -- 4.6 million viewers. And the show that followed, "House," tripled that audience. In the TV industry, this is known as "bad." So Fox has changed its plans to air "Standoff" in the plum Monday time slot leading into "24" after the holidays. Instead, the planned holiday for "Prison Break" has been cut short; it will return Jan. 22 to pair up with "24."

"What About Brian." ABC's chick drama last week generated its smallest crowd yet -- 5.2 million viewers.

"Till Death." Fox's freshman sitcom -- one of only two Fox freshmen to make the additional-episode cut -- finished in fifth place in a five-way race on Thursday at 8. It drew 4.5 million viewers.

The week's 10 most-watched programs, in order, were: ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" Wednesday finale and Tuesday dance-off; CBS's "CSI"; ABC's "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy"; CBS's "60 Minutes" and "CSI: Miami"; NBC's Monday "Deal or No Deal"; and CBS's "Criminal Minds" and "CSI: NY."