• by Wayne Friedman , September 3, 2008

All that gossip talk must have gotten around--CW's "Gossip Girl" delivered one of its strongest viewer performances ever for its season two premiere among virtually all key audiences.

The struggling network got a nice shot in the arm with "Girl" grabbing its highest ratings and/or shares--a 2.3 rating/7 share among 18-34 viewers and a 3.2/10 among women 18-34, as well as a 1.7/5 in adult 18-49 viewers and a 2.3/6 among women 18-49 viewers.

"Girl" drew its second-best numbers ever among total viewers--3.38 million--just under its numbers of a year ago, when it drew 3.65 million. Last year, the show had the advantage of a powerful lead-out program, "America's Next Top Model"--the CW's regular top-rated show.

The lead-out program for "Gossip Girl," "One Tree Hill," also scored well, either matching or beating the show's best ratings in recent years with a 2.3/7 among adults 18-34, a 3.3/9 for women 18-34, a 1.6/4 among adults 18-49 and a 2.3/5 among women 18-49. All this gave CW its best Monday night ever along its target demos.

CW has grabbed headlines for "Girl" in recent months--offering a somewhat scandalous marketing campaign, to the chagrin of some parental groups. There is also an off-again, on-again, plan to allow screening of the show's episodes on the Internet.

The new season also started for another network's show--but with less stellar results. Fox's "Prison Break" debuted down 19% to a 2.6 rating/7 share for its two-hour 8-10 p.m special premiere. Even though all the networks are not yet into the full swing of the fall season, it was enough to give Fox the Monday night win, averaging a 2.6 rating/7 share.

NBC was second on the night with a 2.2/6, with its highlight coming from a 2.6 rating/7 share at 8 p.m. for "Deal or No Deal." NBC's "America's Toughest Jobs" continues to have a tough job grabbing viewers with a 2.4 rating/7 share among 18-49 viewers--Although it was the second-best-rated show at 9 p.m. after "Prison Break," which earned a 2.8 rating for its second hour.

Univision made it into third place for the night, averaging a 1.7/5, with its best coming from a 2.1 rating/5 share for "Al Diablo con los Guapos" at 8 p.m.

With its strong performances, CW was able to tie sister network CBS for fourth place among 18-49 viewers with a 1.6/4 on the night. Except for its coverage of Hurricane Gustav at 10 p.m., CBS ran all its comedies in repeats on Monday night.