Mindless waste of time? or Guilty Pleasure?

Someone, actually lots and lots of someones watched Dancing with the Stars:

ABC 'Dancing' Away With November Sweeps

by Wayne Friedman, Thursday, Nov 29, 2007 8:00 AM ET

ABC IS NEARING A NOVEMBER sweeps period win--but that victory comes at a price. Through Tuesday night, ABC averaged a Nielsen Media Research 3.6 rating/10 share--but those numbers are down 10% versus a year ago. CBS was just a tick off the pace at a 3.4/9, slipping 12% from a year before. NBC has been the hardest hit--now at a 3.2/9, down 14%. The CW trailed with a 1.1/3, down 13%. Perhaps the biggest story has been Fox's 17% improvement to a respectable 3.0/8. Fox still came in at fourth place. But now it goes into its typical big January start, featuring its still killer show, "American Idol"--which is much stronger than in years past. ABC gained much from its "Dancing With the Stars" finale on Tuesday night, where it posted a 6.3 rating/15 share. All that helped ABC to a 5.8/14 average for the night. Even then, this was a difficult chore--as the fast-improving Fox, with the help of "House," grabbed an equally hefty 5.2/13. "House" actually earned a better 18-49 rating compared to "Dancing"--posting a 7.0/16. But in adding in all viewers, "Dancing" easily had the better time of it, pulling in 24.9 million overall viewers to a 16.9 million for "House." NBC was well down the list on Tuesday night--coming in with a 3.6/9, with its best a resurgent "Law & Order: SVU" with a 4.6/12. CBS was far behind NBC at a 2.6/6, with its best coming from "NCIS" at a 3.3/9. Its worst was a free-falling "Cane," now at a 1.6/4. The CW checked in with a 1.1/3, with its "Beauty and the Geek" posting a 1.3/3.