Grammys Pay Off to the Tune Of 20 Million Viewers

The Dixie Chicks' last laugh catapulted CBS to first place in the ratings last week.

Here's a look at the week's songbirds and turkeys:

WINNERS

"Criminal Minds." In its first Wednesday broadcast following its post-Super Bowl play, CBS's pervy crime drama clocked more than 16 million viewers against Fox's "American Idol." While nowhere near the more than 25 million who watched ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" right after its post-Super-Bowl-cast, it's virtually the same size crowd "Minds" snagged last time an original episode aired without "Idol" competition. Ergo, a post-Super Bowl play can (a) give a show a huge ratings spike or (b) offset "Idol" impact.

"Sarah Silverman Program." Comedy Central, the unabashed guys-do-comedy, chicks-not-so-much network, ordered 14 more episodes of the Silverman show after just two telecasts, because it averaged 1.7 million viewers -- yes, even though it stars a chick. For comparison, the series debut of Comedy Central's animated guy-centric "Freak Show" snared 1.4 million; live-action "Naked Trucker & T Bone" opened with 1.3 million; and Carlos Mencia's "Mind of Mencia" kicked off with 1.2 million.

Grammy Awards. After two lousy ratings years -- including last year's worst-ever showing (17 million viewers), opposite "American Idol" -- the music trophy show snapped back on Sunday. More than 20 million viewers caught the Dixie Chicks thumbing their pretty little noses at Music Row, collecting five statuettes, including best album. While it didn't persuade many country radio stations to start playing Chicks tunes -- they haven't since '03, when lead singer Natalie Maines said she was ashamed POTUS hails from Texas -- the Chicks' "Taking the Long Way" leapt to the No. 1 spot on the iTunes Music Store's top albums list yesterday, their "Not Ready to Make Nice" became the digital music store's most-downloaded single, and trade publication Hits reported physical CD sales of "TTLW" were up 830 percent after the Grammy sweep.

"Rules of Engagement." Despite casting David Spade as a ladies' man, CBS's sitcom opened to nearly 15 million viewers last week, making it for one brief shining moment the No. 1-ranked new series on TV this season.

"Grey's Anatomy" went all "ER" for a very special February sweeps episode in which a ferry boat crashes (and Meredith falls off the pier) and copped its second biggest audience ever among young women, behind only that post-Super Bowl broadcast. Among women ages 18 to 34, it was the week's No. 1 broadcast, beating both nights of "American Idol."

LOSERS