NBC's "Heroes" triumphs over Fox's "24"

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Monday's ratings battle between Jack Bauer's "24" and NBC's "Heroes" ended much as the first, with another win for the Peacock.

"Heroes" beat "24" head to head, but "24," along with a stronger performance from "Prison Break," helped Fox to eke out a win for the night in the adults 18-49 demographic, according to preliminary data released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. Meanwhile, "Deal or No Deal" prevailed at 8 p.m. and a repeat "CSI: Miami" outweighed new episodes of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and "What About Brian."

It was another win for NBC's "Heroes" (13.6 million, 6.1 rating/14 share in adults 18-49), although it was down 8 percent in the demo compared with last week's return to the air. "Heroes" was still the dominant player, with a 13 percent margin in the demo over "24" (15.3 million, 5.4/12) and 33 percent above "24" in adults 18-34.

But "24" was still up slightly compared with last week in viewership and steady in the demo.

The 8 p.m. hour went solidly to "Deal or No Deal" (16.9 million, 4.8/12), which beat "Prison Break" (9.9 million, 4.1/11) plus repeats on ABC and CBS. "Prison Break" was up 14 percent compared with its average in the demo and a similar amount in viewership.

Yet CBS, whose schedule was all repeats, came back at 10 p.m. to win with "CSI: Miami" (13.4 million, 3.9/10). It beat "Studio 60" (6.9 million, 3.0/8), which couldn't capitalize on NBC's big audiences between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. "What About Brian" averaged 5.7 million, 2.7/8).

Nightly averages: ABC (7.5 million, 3.1/8); CBS (10.6 million, 3.2/8); Fox (12 million, 4.8/12); NBC (12.5 million, 4.6/11); and The CW (2.4 million, 1.1/3).

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter