House - Most popular TV show: ratings

Thanks to Niki for the heads up.

PARIS (AFP) – US drama "House", starring Britain's Hugh Laurie as unconventional medical genius Doctor Gregory House, out-gunned rivals in 2008 to become the world's most watched show on television.

According to ratings agency Eurodata TV Worldwide, House and his team of canny diagnosticians last year gathered more than 81.8 million viewers in 66 countries, representing a potential 1.6 billion viewers.

That was far more than the 2007 and 2006 winners in the same TV drama category, "CSI: Las Vegas", about a team of forensic experts, and its spin-off "CSI: Miami".

In the TV comedy category, the US female-star cast of "Desperate Housewives" for the second year running beat "Monk" (US) and "Ugly Betty" (US), attracting 65.3 million viewers worldwide in 2008.

"The Bold and the Beautiful", also a US show, with 24.5 million viewers was the most popular soap for the second consecutive year, thrashing Mexican telenovela "Marina" and US competitor "The Young And The Restless."

Source: Yahoo News