• by Wayne Friedman , April 23, 2008

CBS continued to make gains at ABC's expense on Monday night. Thanks to its strong 9 p.m. sitcoms--"Two and a Half Men" with a Nielsen preliminary 4.9 rating among 18-49 viewers, and "Rules of Engagement" with a 4.1 number--CBS averaged a 4.0 rating for the night.

Still, not all was good on the sitcom front. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS' rookie show--which moved to the tougher 8 p.m. time period--hit a series low, with a 2.9 rating. But CBS' second-year sitcom, "How I Met Your Mother," made up ground with a 3.7 rating.

ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" continued to drift lower with viewers, down 14% from its 5.0 season average to a 4.3 rating for its 90-minute run, 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. airing. This didn't help ABC's next show on the night, "Samantha Who?" which spun down to a 2.9 rating. Along with a lower 2.7 for "The Bachelor: London Calling," this gave ABC a 3.5/9, coming in second place to CBS.

NBC was next, at 2.8/7. "Deal or No Deal" offered up a ho-hum 2.3 rating for its 8 p.m. outing and a 3.0 for its 9 p.m. run. "Medium" also took in a 3.0. Fox was next with a 2.6/7 rating for the night, which were the numbers for both "Bones" and a "House" rerun.

CW managed to make noise with its high-level "Gossip Girl" marketing campaign. The show grabbed a strong 1.9 rating for its key 18-34 viewers, which was its third-best showing ever. CW averaged a 1.3/3 for the night.