• by Wayne Friedman , March 23, 2010

Disproving that some reality shows have an ever-decreasing lifespan, ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" debuted to its best season premiere viewership numbers ever.

The 10-year-old dancing-celebrity competition show rocketed to a Nielsen preliminary 23.9 million viewers and a 6.3 rating/17 share among 18-49 viewers -- its second-best premiere results ever.

The heavily marketed two-hour show featured somewhat bigger-name celebrities than in the past: Pamela Anderson and Nicole Scherzinger (of the Pussycat Dolls), astronaut Buzz Aldrin, tabloid stars Kate Gosselin, Jake Pavelka from "The Bachelor," Shannen Doherty, ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews and NFL player Chad Ochocinco.

The "Stars" last debut, in September 2009, scored a 4.1 rating among 18-49 viewers. This year's debut earned its best 18-49 results since 2007.

All this gave some lift to ABC's 10 p.m. "Castle," which rose to a 3.6/10, winning the time period for the first time over CBS' "CSI: Miami" (3.2/9) and NBC's "Law & Order" (1.8/5).

It also gave ABC an easy win for the night, with a 5.4/15; CBS was next at a 3.9/11; Fox, a 2.2/6; NBC, a 1.7/5; Univision, a 1.4/4; and the CW at a 0.9/2.

CBS' comedies -- which usually reign in top positions -- were down for the week, although they still grabbed strong numbers.

Two of the biggest took it on the chin: "The Big Bang Theory" lost 12% to a 5.2/13 and "Two and a Half Men" was down 14% to a 5.0/13. Still, both shows were ranked second and third, respectively, behind "Stars" for the night.

NBC's "Chuck" at 8 p.m. hovered just under the 2 rating mark for the second week in a row, at a 1.9/5. But this was down from its initial season-opening episodes.

Although the competition was strong, CW maintained its young audience, more or less. "Life Unexpected" earned a 1.5 among women 18-34 and "Gossip Girl" took a 2.0 among women 18-34.

All numbers are live plus same day

Source: The Nielsen Company