The catholic tastes of TV audiences shouldn’t have come as a blinding epiphany to anyone, says Robert Thompson, who runs the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University.

“We make a mistake when we think the only people we want to watch on TV or in movies are people in our own demographic,” Thompson says. “Think of all little kids’ shows in the ’50s and ’60s that starred frazzled old miners or sailors or whatever. . . . Think of a show like “Walker, Texas Ranger”, that appealed to all age groups. “Judge Judy” would not be as appealing a show if she had just popped out of law school. She works because she is this kind of crotchety - not old, but experienced - person, getting tough with everybody.”

Q scores, a measure of the name-recognition and likeability of stars compiled by the New York-based company Marketing Evaluations, certainly bear that out. Prime-time TV’s top Q-score personalities and their ages:

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ACTRESSES

• Mariska Hargitay, “Law & Order: SVU” (44)
• Marg Helgenberger, “CSI” (49)
• Reba McEntire, “Reba” (53)
• Katherine Heigl, “Grey’s Anatomy” (29)
• Jorja Fox, “CSI” (39)