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Television News

TV Winners and Losers

Here's a network-by-network look at the shows that soared (''Grey's Anatomy'') or sank (''Joan of Arcadia'') this season
By Jennifer Armstrong
Jennifer Armstrong
Most of the time, Jennifer Armstrong is indulging her TiVo habit, watching and rewatching ''Alias,'' ''The O.C.,'' and ''Newlyweds.'' The rest of the time, she's writing about TV for EW
| May 25, 2005
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TV ratings: 2005's winners and losers | 141152__house_l
HOUSE'S HUGH LAURIE, OMAR EPPS, AND JESSE SPENCER
House: Isabella Vosmikova

Fox

Drama struck a nerve (9.9 million viewers)

As if we needed more signs that American Idol (Nos. 1 and 3) is a ratings force, it showed up in January to resuscitate House (No. 24), making it the net's biggest new hit. ''House showed that this network can put on shows that are more meat-and-potatoes television,'' says Fox exec VP of programming Preston Beckman. The meat-and-potatoes comedies didn't fare as well, even with an Idol boost: Food-court sitcom Life on a Stick (No. 54) was canceled; Pam Anderson's Stacked (No. 44) didn't do that well either, but got renewed.

OTHER WINNERS 24, up 1.6 million; the revived Family Guy

OTHER LOSERS That '70s Show, down 3 million; Malcolm in the Middle, down 2.8 million

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