The AfterElton.com Ranking Roundup: Neil Patrick Harris breaks out

Welcome to the AfterElton.com Ranking Roundup, a regular feature where we round up the rankings from various sources as to what is, and isn't, hot in gay male entertainment!

Top Rated TV Shows of Gay Interest

(from Nielsen, for week ending 1/11)

1. Golden Globe Awards, NBC (14.8 million viewers)
2. Desperate Housewives, ABC (13.8 million viewers)
3. People's Choice Awards, CBS (9.4 million viewers)
4. Brothers & Sisters, ABC (9 million viewers)
5. SNL (with host Neil Patrick Harris), NBC (8.9 million viewers)
6. Ugly Betty, ABC (7.5 million viewers)
7. How I Met Your Mother, CBS (7.2 million viewers)
8. The Secret Life of the American Teenager, ABC Family (4.4 million viewers)
9. Lipstick Jungle, NBC (4.1 million viewers)
10. One Tree Hill, The CW (3 million viewers)
11. Gossip Girl, The CW (3 million viewers)
12. 90210, The CW (2.8 million viewers)
13. As the World Turns, CBS (for week ending 1/2, 2.8 million viewers)
14. Supernatural, The CW (1.9 million viewers)

Awards ceremonies may be lagging, but Neil Patrick Harris and The Secret Life of the American Teenager are breaking out big-time! Detailed analysis and more ratings after the jump.

Jake at the Globes

It's the start of the awards season, but ratings for Sunday's Golden Globes ceremony were down 26% from 2007, proving that, whether the movies being honored are box office hits or not, awards ceremonies are losing their TV luster, just like everything else on the broadcast networks. Still, the ceremony won its timeslot and caused Desperate Housewives (which included another substantial gay subplot) to match its lowest rating ever for a new episode. The middling ratings for Wednesday's People's Choice Awards were up over last year, but that's not saying much, since last year's ceremony took place during the writers' strike and included no celebrities.

The Secret Life of the American Teenager (which has included a minor gay character and will reportedly feature more next season) is now an unqualified break-out hit, with this week's ep scoring ABC Family's highest rating ever, and besting its CW rival, Gossip Girl, by an astounding 47% in total viewers (and by 71% in its target 12-34 demo).

Neil Patrick Harris' How I Met Your Mother is continuing to break out as well. Last week's ep (shown above) was a rerun, but this week the show scored its second highest rating ever (and the highest in the key 18-49 demo). Meanwhile, his host-stint on SNL boosted that show to its strongest ratings since November 1st, when John McCain guested.

Lipstick Jungle aired its final episode this week (and even managed to wrap up most of its storylines, though gay Roy had little to do), but ratings remained dismal.

As the World Turns' ratings (from the week ending 1/2) are now down more than 14% from this point last year. Will Luke and Noah's decision to "go all the way" this week revive interest in the show? Bet on it!

And why is Supernatural a TV show of "gay interest"? Um, because it includes the Hottest TV Duo of All Time! Duh!

Top Selling Gay Books

(at Giovanni's Room Bookstore in Philadelphia)

1. The Mayor of Castro Street by Randy Shilts
2. Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
3. Skin Lane by Neil Bartlett
4. Spider Season by John Morgan Wilson
5. When You Were Me by Robert Rodi
6. Fellow Travelers by Thomas Mallon
7. Best Gay Love Stories 2009 edited by Brad Nichols
8. Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay, and Coming of Age on the Streets of New York by Kai Wright

Milk has understandably revived interest in Shilts' 1982 Harvey Milk biography, recently reissued by St. Martin's.

Uncommon Reader is the latest by the author of The History Boys, a mischievous novella about the Queen of England and the subversive power of reading.

When You Were Me, the body-switching comedy of errors for master gay humorist Robert Rodi, is now out in paperback, and Drifting Toward Love discusses marginalized men of color in New York City.