The Grinch ratings beat 'Mindy Project'

Oh you’re a popular one, Mr. Grinch!

The annual telecast of How the Grinch Stole Christmas on ABC delivered a strong rating Tuesday night, surpassing original episodes of several broadcast comedies in the adult demo — including NBC’s New Normal and all of Fox’s lineup (yup, Grinch outperformed New Girl too, but that was by a very close margin in the demo).

Grinch stole 8.4 million viewers and a 2.4 rating among adults 18-49 at 8 p.m. and was followed by a repeat of Shrek the Halls (8.4 million, 2.5). Both were down a tick from last year. Creating new holiday animated specials that can stand alongside the veteran classics year after year is tough. But 2007’s Sherk the Halls seems to have settled into a successful annual groove.

Why is ABC airing Christmas specials nearly a full month before the holiday? Probably because of what the network aired afterward. Dancing with the Stars had its All Stars finale, pulling 16.6 million viewers and a 3.0 in the demo. Having a strong lead-in from the holiday specials probably helped boost the numbers for the aging reality franchise. Dancing hit a season high, though was down 27 percent from last fall. (ABC partnered the specials with the Dancing finale last year too).

Also last night, many shows posted ratings gains compared to last week (which, of course, included the Thanksgiving holiday, so levels were lower then). NBC’s The Voice perked up 12 percent, which helped its whole lineup. Go On — the only original sitcom to not get topped by The Grinch — rose 19 percent. New Normal was up 13 percent and Parenthood rose 6 percent. CBS’ NCIS was up 17 percent from last week, though NCIS: LA was down 4 percent and Vegas was down 11 percent. Fox’s Raising Hope was up 13 percent, Ben & Kate was up 27 percent, and New Girl and Mindy climbed 15 percent each.

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