ABC dances to Monday primetime win

By Paul J. Gough

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - ABC won a second straight Monday primetime thanks to "Dancing with the Stars," while NBC's "Heroes" and CBS's "CSI: Miami" fell from last week's premiere episodes, and new shows "Chuck" and "Journeyman" declined.

"Dancing with the Stars" was the night's top program in the key measures with 20.3 million viewers and a 5.2 rating/13 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, according to preliminary estimates released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

The two-hour "Dancing" was down from last week's 90-minute premiere (21.2 million, 5.8/15) but that didn't seem to matter as it handily beat anything else on broadcast Monday night. But it also seemed as if the broadcast ratings were impacted by live sports, the "Monday Night Football" game on ESPN and a Colorado Rockies-San Diego Padres wildcard playoff game on TBS.

"Heroes" (11.9 million, 5.5/13) dropped from last week's premiere, any way you look at it: "Heroes" officially ended the week with 17 million viewers and a 7.3/17 in adults 18-49, thanks to the network making use of a new rule to add audience on a replay. But last Monday's ratings were more like the 14.1 million viewers and 6.5/15 it scored in the preliminary estimates released a week ago and not updated until Tuesday.

Even down, it was enough for "Heroes" to tie "Dancing" at 9 p.m. and pull ahead of it by a tenth of a rating point at 9:30 p.m., when audiences for both shows increased. And it was comparable to "Heroes"' performance in its second week last year in the demo.

CBS's "Two and a Half Men" (13.4 million, 4.6/11) was down slightly from last week (13.6 million, 4.8/11) while "Rules of Engagement" (10.5 million, 3.9/9) was down from its premiere (12.2 million, 4.5/10). Fox's "K-Ville" (5.5 million, 2.0/4) dropped for the third week in a row against tough competition in the 9 p.m. hour while The CW's "Girlfriends" (2.6 million, 1.2/3) and "The Game" (3 million, 1.4/3) both premiered. "The Game" got its best series ratings in adults 18-34 and adults 18-49, among other demos.

"CSI: Miami" (14.9 million, 4.6/12) showed another decline atop its lowest-rated original episode in its history, although it was still dominant at 10 p.m. NBC's "Journeyman" (8.4 million, 3.3/8) lost some from last week's premiere (9.2 million, 3.5/9). "The Bachelor" (9.6 million, 3.6/9) was up a tenth of a rating point in adults 18-49 compared to last week's 90-minute premiere.

Back at 8 p.m., the rest of the network shows suffered week-to-week declines. NBC's "Chuck" (8.2 million, 3.1/8) was down from last week's premiere (9.2 million, 3.6/9). Both CBS sitcoms "How I Met Your Mother" (7.9 million, 3.0/9) and freshman "Big Bang Theory" (8.6 million, 3.4/8) were also down week to week although not steep. Fox's "Prison Break" (7.2 million, 3.0/8) was off just slightly from last week's 7.4 million viewers and 3.1/8 in the demo.