Maybe Bachelor jiltee Melissa Rycroft brought the ratings momentum with her, or maybe America is as obsessed with jailbird Lil’ Kim’s ballroom dancing as I am. But for whatever reason, ABC’s Dancing With the Stars quickstepped up to its highest season-premiere ratings ever Monday night with 22.5 million viewers — that’s 10.8 million more than second-place Fox garnered in the same two-hour period. Those stellar numbers boosted the series premiere of lead-out Castle, which charmed 11.6 million viewers (though note that that means only about half of Dancing‘s audience stuck around for the Nathan Fillion dramedy). All that ABC excitement left CBS unusually strapped for viewers, with Big Bang Theory (9.5 million), How I Met Your Mother (8.5 million), and Two and a Half Men (13.3 million) all dipping.
| Time | Show | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|
| 8 p.m. | Dancing with the Stars (ABC) House (Fox) Big Bang Theory (CBS) Chuck (NBC) Gossip Girl (The CW) |
22.5 12.1 9.5 5.7 1.2 (repeat) |
| 8:30 p.m. | How I Met Your Mother (CBS) | 8.5 |
| 9 p.m. | Two and a Half Men (CBS) 24 (Fox) Heroes (NBC) One Tree Hill (The CW) |
13.3 11.3 6.6 1.2 (repeat) |
| 9:30 p.m. | Rules of Engagement (CBS) | 10.0 |
| 10 p.m. | CSI: Miami (CBS) Castle (ABC) Medium (NBC) |
14.1 11.6 7.1 |
What’s going on over at NBC? Are they still producing television? Those ratings are starting to look scary…
NBC is starting to look like Fox in the 90s.
I’m starting to get really worried for Chuck.
I’m not surprised that Heroes continues to lose viewers, The show should have been canceled this year and NBC made a huge mistake renewing it for a fourth season. Heroes has become completely unwatchable.
Seriously, why has Heroes not been canceled yet? NBC’s Monday average in viewers is horrible!
I have to say that I still watch Heroes, just not Mondays at 9 because 24 is on then too. I catch up with Heroes later online. It’s funny because I got hooked on Heroes when 24 was bad (season 6), but now that 24 is back and having a killer season so far, Heroes just looks mediocre in comparison.
“though note that that means only about half of Dancing’s audience stuck around for the Nathan Fillion dramedy”
But he picked up people like me who couldn’t care less about “Dancing With the Stars” but wanted to see his show.
i’m just happy to see the Medium builds on the two earlier shows and has the highest ratings for NBC on Monday nights. I would be really sad if they cancel that show.
Anybody notice the camera did NOT zoom in on Lil Kim’s face? like it did on Shawn and some of the other “lovely” ladies? Hmmm….wonder why?
Heroes sucks,it’s not a shock that the ratings continue to drop.
I really enjoyed that new show “Castle” on ABC. Viewers check it out … it is a pretty neat show as I’m a little tired of CSI Miami although I am still hooked on original CSI.
What do people see in DWTS????
It really saddens me how America continues to watch repetitive, unimaginative reality shows like DWTS in favour of quality shows like House and HIMYM/BBT, even Chuck (which I gave up because too much good stuff is sandwiched in at the same hours on the same day (thursday 9pm, anyone? can’t even watch the last 2 minutes of Bones, so that goes too–what’s the point? FOX, I’m not staying for Hell’s Kitchen (Ramsay’s great on BBC, but this stuff is overdone, insulting c-r-a-p), so please stop stretching out series so we’ll stay tuned, it just ends up losing you viewers. If networks would respect the top and bottom of the hour they might find viewers coming back to network TV. Oh, and NBC? Leno 5 days a week? Count me out. Nice guy, but he’s not funny. Comedies and dramas keep people working! At a time in history when so many jobs are being shipped offshore, more dramas and comedies would be a good thing for the economy (before the lot of us end up having to cancel our cable!)
It is ok to speculate about the ratings but I find it unecessary to call name regarding Lil Kim jail time u say keep it clean keep it fair she was a rap diva before she went to jail.
I completely agree with you Joyce. I still enjoy CSI alot but the clones- forget about it. Castle was so fresh, witty, and action filled. I hope it is as good next week.