They're No Oscars: Ratings-Wise, the SAG Awards Live Up to Their Name

After killing the Golden Globe Awards gala and threatening to undo the Oscars in support of the striking Writers Guild, Hollywood actors turned out in droves for their own guild's trophy show and were rewarded with -- an additional 252,000 viewers. A grand total of 6.135 million viewers watched Brangelina, John Travolta, Tom Cruise, Zac Efron, Julie Christie, the cast of "The Sopranos," Daniel Day-Lewis, Kate Hudson, Vanessa Redgrave et al. on the Screen Actors Guild Awards show, simulcast on TNT and TBS networks. Four days earlier, 23 million people showed up to watch the unveiling of the lie detector show "The Moment of Truth" on Fox.

Here's a look at the week's big and small:

WINNERS

"The Moment of Truth" a.k.a. "The End of Civilization," according to most reviews, hung onto more "American Idol" viewers Wednesday than any other show that premiered after the singing competition -- and there've been plenty. The 23 million-plus, who tuned in to watch a personal trainer being asked increasingly embarrassing questions while his wife and pals squirmed onstage, is the biggest crowd for a series premiere on any network in about a year. Among 18-to-34-year-olds -- the sweet spot for reality TV -- it snagged the biggest premiere audience on any network in five years.

"Survivor." CBS ordered two more editions of the reality show, which, considering its age, is still doing very well.

"Deal or No Deal." NBC's screaming-at-briefcases series on Wednesday scored the network's highest rating opposite "Idol" in four years, with nearly 14 million viewers, landing a spot in the week's Top 10.

"Celebrity Apprentice." NBC ordered what it's calling a "second" season on the "celebrity" version of "The Apprentice." Last week the show won Thursday night among 18-49, 18-34 and 25-54-year-olds. NBC appears to have learned its lesson re overplaying "Apprentice"; the next edition won't air until January '09.

"Pretty Woman." The bazillionth telecast of the Julia-Roberts-as-happy-hooker flick, this time on ABC, was the No. 1 show on Saturday with women between the ages of 18 and 54. Overall, it copped 5.3 million viewers -- not a lot fewer than the Screen Actors Guild Awards drew the next night.

"Minutemen." Disney Channel's 71st original movie clocked 6.5 million viewers Friday night to become last week's most watched cable program. Beating the SAG Awards.

"Miss America." A new network, a new this, a new that. And for all that, it logged 3.6 million viewers on TLC Saturday, which, yes, is up 52 percent over last year's 2.4 million on CMT when it aired on a Monday night, but on par with '06's 3.1 million, also on a Saturday. Days earlier, when the reigning Miss America appeared on Fox's "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" her audience was triple the pageant's.

President Bush. There are those who might expect that because President Bush's Lame Duck State of the Union Address logged only 37.5 million viewers -- about 8 million fewer than last year's SOTU and his smallest audience ever for a SOTU -- he would show up in our Losers column. But he's not, because Bush snared about 6 million more viewers than President Clinton did with his Lame Duck SOTU in '00 (although, to be completely fair, these days Nielsen is including the ratings for coverage on Telemundo and Univision and back in '00 it did not). Besides, Bush beat the Screen Actors Guild Awards. In our book that makes him a winner.

LOSERS

SAG Awards. We were promised gimongous pent-up demand by TV viewers to see Hollywood movie stars dolled up in costly borrowed finery. We had a picture of millions of glitz-starved John and Jane Does in fly-over country, who'd mourned the loss of the Golden Globes gala and who were nearly prostrate with anxiety over the fate of the Academy Awards as the Hollywood writers' strike slogged its way toward its fourth month, clapping their callused hands and shouting "Hallelujah!" when they heard the news that the Writers Guild would brighten up their humdrum little lives by allowing the Hollywood movie stars to go forward with their Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony. Did we get anything to even approximate the nearly 40 million who'd watched last year's Academy Awards? Nosirree, we did not. We got 6.1 million viewers, making the SAG Awards the 59th most watched show of the week, behind the second half-hour of "Cops" -- though the awards did beat the first half-hour. Behind "Garth Brooks: Live in L.A.!" Behind even "According to Jim." Jeesh.

The week's 10 most watched programs, in order, were: Fox's Tuesday and Wednesday "American Idol" and "The Moment of Truth" premiere; CBS's "60 Minutes"; NBC's Monday "Deal or No Deal"; Fox's "House"; NBC's Wednesday "Deal or No Deal"; ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"; CBS's "CSI"; and NBC's "Law & Order: SVU."