From ‘Dancing With the Stars’ to ‘Blue Bloods,’ the Oldest-Skewing TV Shows This Season

With another television season wrapped, Madison Avenue buyers are already looking ahead to next year. As the options for where to place their money on and off screen mount, they are wise to assess not only who is tuning in, but also how young — or old — those viewers are.

Perhaps it’s no surprise to see CBS leads the latter, airing nine of the 15 shows with the highest median age in primetime. In the network’s defense, CBS also draws more viewers than any other broadcaster and places second behind only Fox for viewers in the younger, advertiser-beloved 18 to 49 demo.

With the help of Nielsen data-cruncher Brad Adgate, senior vice president of research at Horizon Media, The Hollywood Reporter took a look at the 15 oldest broadcast network series (excluding sports, news-magazine and repeats) for the 2010-11 season.

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1. CBS’ Blue Bloods – Median Age: 60.6

2. CBS’ Chaos* – Median Age: 59.8

3. CBS’ CSI: NY – Median Age: 59.5

4. CBS’ The Good Wife – Median Age: 59

5. NBC’s Harry’s Law – Median Age: 58.7

6. CBS’ NCIS – Median Age: 58.3 (TIE)

6. ABC’s Dancing with the Stars** – Median Age: 58.3 (TIE)

8. CBS’ The Mentalist – Median Age: 58.2

9. NBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? – Median Age: 58

10. CBS’ NCIS: Los Angeles – Median Age: 57.6

11. ABC’s Body of Proof – Median Age: 57.5 (TIE)

11. CBS’s The Defenders* – Median Age: 57.5 (TIE)

13. ABC’s Dancing With the Stars: Results – Median Age: 57.4 (TIE)

14. NBC’s Outlaw* – Median Age: 57.2

15. CBS’ Medium* – Median Age: 57 (TIE)

15. ABC’s Dancing with the Stars*** – Median Age: 57 (TIE)

Note: Estimates include live plus same day viewing. *Since Canceled. **Tuesday, 8 p.m. airings. ***Monday, 8 p.m. airings.

Email: Lacey.Rose@THR.com
Twitter: @LaceyVRose