AMC’s Walking Dead had the rare feat–number one for the week. The horror drama actually tied for the top spot in Nielsen’s New York prime time ratings with CBS’ The Big Bang Theory.

The shows averaged 961,000 viewers and a 4.9 rating.

American Idol occupied the next two positions. There were 904,000 WNYW viewers and a 4.6 rating for a third-place showing of the Thursday night results. Idol‘s performance night was fourth with an estimated 872,000 fans and a 4.4 rating.

Person of Interest was next at number five (844,000/4.3), while CBS was also represented by NCIS at six (805,000/4.1). It tied with ABC’s Bachelor: After the Rose (800,000/4,1). The two-hour Bachelor finale tied for 10th (699,000/3.6).

WNBC had just one Top 3o entry, Celebrity Apprentice at number 18 with 539,000 Channel 4 viewers and a 2.7 rating.

The latest episode of History’s The Bible notched 475,000 viewers and a 2.4 rating.

More from the Top 10 after the jump

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Here’s a look at what FishbowlNY stories made the most buzz this week.

1. Rob Morrison Denies Report of “Comeback” Via Tell-All Book, March 11

2. Jodi Applegate “Lost Sleep for Seven Months” Deciding to Leave WPIX to Have a Baby, March 8

3. Reporter Sean Hennessey Leaves WCBS-TV for Teaching Job in Boston, March 11

4. WSJ. Money Debuts Saturday, March 7

5. Meteorologist Domenica Davis (left) “Surprised How Long [She] Stayed” at WNBC, March 7

6. No Women Among the “Most Powerful” in Sports Media, March 7

7. Exclusive: Don Dahler Leaving Channel 2 for CBS News, March 7

Keep up-to-date with the latest FishbowlNY news. Click here to sign-up for the FishbowlNY daily newsletter, bringing you our articles each afternoon directly to your inbox.

It’s possibly American Idol fatigue, but the dominance of Fox’s talent showcase has been slipping this season in New York. CBS’ NCIS took the top spot for the week with an estimated 1.1 million WCBS viewers and a 5.9 rating, according to Nielsen.

As for Idol, the Thursday night show grabbed number two with 961,000 people tuned to WNYW and a 4.9 rating. The Wednesday performance tied for fifth with 927,000 viewers and a 4.7 rating. That led to the Fox 5 News at 10 scoring with viewers. The Steve Lacy/Dari Alexander newscast tied for 18th (570,000/2.9).

Idol added a 10th-place result (779,000/4.0) for the Tuesday night edition.

Also in fifth place were 60 Minutes (931,000) and Person of Interest (914,000).

Big Bang Theory (947,000/4.8) and AMC’s Walking Dead (932,000) tied for third.

WABC made its first appearance in the Top 30 with Revenge at 13 (641,000/3.3).  Struggling NBC was represented only by Celebrity Apprentice, which tied for number 29 (487,000/2.5).

There’s more from the Top 10 after the jump.

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Here’s a look at what FishbowlNY stories made the most buzz this week.

1. Time Inc. and Meredith Talks Stall Because No One Likes Iowa, March 6

2. Freelance Journalism’s Downside Perfectly Captured, March 5

3. Cablevision Lays Off Dozens in MSG Varsity Restructuring, February 27

4. WNBC’s Scott Stanford (left) Makes News Anchoring Debut, March 4

5. Ashley Morrison Returns to WCBS as MoneyWatch Anchor, February 27

6. WPIX Falls in February Sweeps; ‘Expect Changes Everywhere’: Source, March 1

Keep up-to-date with the latest FishbowlNY news. Click here to sign-up for the FishbowlNY daily newsletter, bringing you our articles each afternoon directly to your inbox.

OK, it may not be time to cue up Dylan’s, The Times They Are A Changin,’ but there is a change at the top. American Idol was caught by CBS drama NCIS for number one in the prime time weekly survey. It had an estimated 1.1 million WCBS viewers, while Fox’s Idol landed at number two with 1 million fans on WNYW, according to Nielsen.

With that lead-in the Fox 5 News at 10 with Steve Lacy and Dari Alexander with number 24 (523,000/2.7).

• Related: FishbowlNY, Former Staffer Alleges String of Bad Decisions By Fox 5 Management

The Thursday edition of Idol took fourth place for the week with 888,000 viewers and a 4.5 rating.

Modern Family wedged itself at number three with (985,000/5.0).

AMC’s Walking Dead was next at five (859,000/4.4), while 60 Minutes took hold of sixth (824,000/4.2).

WNBC’s first appearance in the weekly Top 30 was 20th with Law & Order: SVU (577,000/2.9).

The debut of History’s The Bible miniseries was 17th (589,000/3.0).

More from the Top 10 after the jump

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A view of Davis from her Twitter page.

It was a short stint, but Domenica Davis built her TV brand with two years as weekend meteorologist at WNBC. In August, FishbowlNY learned first that Davis’ contract would not be renewed. She left Channel 4 in October.

Davis also spent three years as weather anchor on Fox News Channel.

Although the camera and Davis mesh beautifully, the WNBC gig many times didn’t appear to be her best fit. Now Davis tells FishbowlNY, in her first interview since leaving Channel 4, she is exploring a slightly altered career path.

• Related: FishbowlNY, Domenica Davis Out at WNBC, Steve Villaneuva Bolts From WPIX

“I’ve always been a feature reporter and hosted special event coverage prior to working at FNC and WNBC. It’s something I really love and have a lot of fun doing,” Davis says.

Davis holds a special place for weather, but the outlook for a return in the near future is unlikely.

“I love being a meteorologist but it was getting to be too much of the same thing every day and I feel I have a lot more to offer,” Davis says.

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Don Pardo, the legendary NBC staff announcer, has been the Saturday Night Live voice for every season except one, since its debut in 1975.

So when Pardo, who turned 95 on February 22, is absent from the show, it’s news. He missed the February 16 broadcast, and the next live show, this past weekend.

TMZ reports that Pardo recently suffered a broken hip. The entertainment site says he’s recovering and “doing just fine.”

In an apparent attempt to keep Pardo’s injury hidden, his trademark opening credits were done by someone else in a poor version of a Pardo impression.

NBC has stayed quiet about Pardo’s condition and status with the show. FishbowlNY also attempted to reach Pardo directly.

Beginning two seasons ago, Pardo retired to Arizona, pre-recording the SNL work from his home studio.

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Sportscasters have occasionally been seen handling news anchoring. In the last several years, you could see former WNBC sports anchor Len Berman taking part in the news portion of Live at Five. His former colleague Otis Livingston spent weekend mornings as a stopgap anchor with Cindy Hsu on WCBS.

Now, the latest on-air sports personality has made the leap to the news side. WNBC’s Scott Stanford anchored News 4 New York at 7 on WNBC’s digital channel Cozi TV (formerly New York Nonstop).

Hard to recall a sportscaster anchoring on his own. Stanford, though, broke that barrier. He was in charge of the one-hour broadcast Friday night. He’ll get another shot this Friday.

For those expecting the high-octane Stanford to crash and burn in the new role, they were sadly disappointed. The worry is that a sports guy will just “have fun” with news. But this was clearly no hobby. Stanford was as serious about it as the stories he reported.

Despite not having a TV news background, Stanford was able to transfer his broadcasting skills with little issue. Stanford has been all about sports, first as a former afternoon radio standout on WCBS 880 via Shadow Traffic. He moved to TV at Channel 9/Channel 5 before heading to Channel 4, picking up four New York Emmy Awards along the way.

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WABC/Channel 7 heads into March following a successful February sweeps period. The station won early and late, starting with Eyewitness News This Morning and ending with the 11 p.m. newscast.

In every daypart, WABC was tops among households and the all-important adults 25 to 54 demographic.

The Bill Ritter-Sade Baderinwa broadcast scored a 6.3 household rating, the highest for any 11 p.m. newscast in a major sweep in nearly four years, the station says.

WCBS/Channel 2, though, was pleased with its February performance.

Its late news, anchored by Maurice DuBois and Kristine Johnson, had an average of 511,000,
the station’s largest 11 p.m. audience during a major sweep period since November 2010 and best February sweep performance since 2005, a station spokesperson says.

The station also saw year-to-year gains at 5 and 6 p.m.

If the final day of the sweeps period is any indication, WNBC came in third among noon newscasts in the 25 to 54 demo and households.

At 5 p.m., WNBC only beat WNYW and WPIX. The same applies for Channel 4 at 6 p.m. (minus a WPIX newscast).

However, thanks to the Ellen lead-in, WNBC may have notched a slight victory in the adults 25 to 54 demo at 5 p.m.

WNBC was third at 11 p.m.

insidemovies.ew.com

As the sweeps period ends today, WABC/Channel 7 had an easy win leading up to the February ratings block. The prime time figures were released today and WABC/Channel 7 rode the Oscars to victory.

Although the approximately three-hour 45- minute broadcast didn’t end until about 12:15 a.m., enough eyes were glued to Seth MacFarlane‘s first time as emcee. The telecast had an estimated 4 million WABC viewers with a 20.6 rating, according to Nielsen.

But it didn’t stop there. WABC also found Oscar gold in the 90-minute Red Carpet special, notching number two, three, and four in half-hour intervals. The highest portion, obviously, was just prior to the awards show starting with 2.9 million viewers and a 14.7 rating. Cable network E! also charted at number 22 for its Red Carpet coverage Sunday (618,000/3.2).

NCIS was fifth for the week with 1 million viewers and a 5.2 rating.

WNBC made its first appearance in the Top 30 with Law & Order: SVU at 27 (592,000/3.0).

There more from Top 10 after the jump.

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