• by Wayne Friedman , February 7, 2007

CBS didn't get all that it wanted from the promotional marriage of the Super Bowl and "Criminal Minds" on Sunday night, but it scored with its new comedy on Monday.

"Rules of Engagement," the David Spade-starring comedy, posted a healthy Nielsen preliminary 5.2 rating/12 share among 18-49s. It not only won its time period, but it bested Fox's "24" from 9 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.: 5.2/12 versus 5.0/11.

Better still, "Engagement" kept about 90% of its viewers from "Two and a Half Men"--a solid indicator for network programming executives. The 18-49 numbers for "Engagement" were the best for the network since May 2005.

In addition, CBS's comedies "How I Met Your Mother," "The Class," and "Two and a Half Men" also benefited from the Super Bowl promotional spin, all picking season highs among 18-49 viewers.

The night before, CBS had more mixed reviews for its "Criminal Minds Super Bowl Special," which followed the Super Bowl on Sunday night. And this year's Super Bowl was the third-most-watched single TV program of all time, with 93.1 million viewers.

"Minds" posted 26.3 million viewers, the third-best post-Super Bowl program in six years. But the 18-49 numbers for "Minds" at a 10 rating were down 40% from last year's post-Super Bowl show. ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" earned a 16.5 rating among 18-49 viewers and 37.8 million viewers overall. "Minds" returns for 18-49 viewers only beat ABC's 8.2 for "Alias" from a few years ago.

Despite the big boost to CBS' Monday night, it just eked out a win over still-strong NBC. "Heroes" grabbed a now steady 6.4/14 in 18-49 viewers. "Deal or No Deal" took in a 5.0/12 in 18-49, while "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" earned a 3.2/8--which was up slightly from its recent outings.

Next came Fox. After "24" registered a 5.0/12, a season low for the series, Fox's "Prison Break" took in a solid 4.1/10.

ABC didn't change much on the night versus other Monday nights. Its unscripted series "Wife Swap" and "Supernanny" posted steady and respective 3.5/9 and 3.8/9 numbers among 18-49 viewers, and so did "What About Brian," with a 2.6/7 among 18-49 viewers.

Overall numbers for the night: CBS 5.0/12; NBC, 4.8/12; Fox, 4.6/11; ABC, 3.3/8; Univision, 1.8/4; and CW, 1.2/3.