College football makes the grade for Fox

By Nellie Andreeva

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Fox's broadcast of the BCS National Championship college football game dominated the ratings Monday night.

Meanwhile, NBC's "American Gladiators" made a successful transition to its regular 8 p.m. Monday slot, while another new unscripted entry, ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" spinoff, "Dance Wars: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann," got off to a less promising start.

Louisiana State's 38-24 victory over Ohio State in the BCS title game averaged an 8.2 rating/12 share among adults 18-49 and 23.1 million viewers from 8:24 p.m.-11:36 p.m. EST, according to Live+SD (same day) Nielsen numbers. That was down 23% in the demo from last year's BCS game, when Florida beat Ohio State 41-14.

Airing against the BCS pregame/game on the East Coast, "Gladiators" (4.8/12, 10.9 million) slipped a modest 19% from its big premiere Sunday, posted the best nonsports ratings for the night, and grew by a full demo rating point between the first and second half-hour.

The rest of NBC's lineup didn't hold up as well. Following a "Deal or No Deal" (3.6/8, 10.7 million) at 9 p.m., the season premiere of the drama "Medium" (3.3/8, 9.6 million) posted the series' lowest original Monday rating in adults 18-49.

ABC's two-hour premiere of "Dance Wars" averaged a 3.0/7 in 18-49 and 11 million viewers overall, down 48% from the most recent season premiere of "Dancing With the Stars."

At 10 p.m., an original "October Road" (1.8/4, 5.0 million) finished behind all repeats on CBS.

For the night, NBC (3.9/10, 10.4 million) finished second behind Fox (7.9/20, 22.6 million). CBS (2.7/7, 8.2 million) edged ABC (2.6/6, 9.0 million) in 18-49.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter