TV shows had little fuel as many suffered in the second Monday of the sweeps, with Fox's "House" as the new slowpoke among suffering big TV shows. "House" posted a season-low Nielsen preliminary 5.0 rating/12 share among 18-49 viewers--down 12% from last week's 5.7 low number.
As with other recent nights of sinking TV ratings, it wasn't just about one show. ABC's "The Bachelor: London Calling" had a season-low 2.4 at 10 p.m.; NBC's two-hour "Deal or No Deal" crashed to a season-low 2.3 at 8 p.m.
Fox and CBS finished in a dead heat for the night for first place with a 3.8/10. Fox was down 14% from a week before, and CBS losses weren't as bad, at just 3%.
CBS' best came from a 4.8/12 from "Two and a Half Men" at 9 p.m.--the second-highest-rated show of the night next to "House." ABC's best came from a 90-minute "Dancing with the Stars" at a 4.2/12, with the show down in ratings versus the week before.
The CW seemed to be losing steam from its highly touted marketing campaign for "Gossip Girl." The show dipped to a 1.0/3 from the week before. "One Tree Hill" also went weaker at the same 1.0/3 number.
Silver linings? NBC had an uptick from "Medium" at 10 p.m. to a 3.2/9. CBS' comedy lineup--"How I Met Your Mother," "The Big Bang Theory," "Two and a Half Men," "Rules of Engagement"--continued to be one of the stable and bright spots coming out of the writers' strike.