• by Wayne Friedman , September 11, 2008

New network shows settled down into good--but not great--performances on Monday night.

Fox's highly touted "Fringe," with plenty of movie advertising attached, stayed just on the fringes of being a strong breakout show. The new drama, in a special 90-minute debut, earned a solid--but not stunning--Nielsen 3.3 rating/9 share among 18-49 viewers, winning its time period.

Good potential news for next week's edition: "Fringe" did grow its 18-49 viewers as well as its total viewers from its first half-hour to its third half-hour. Fox finished first, with a 2.9 rating/8 share among 18-49 viewers.

The second week of CW's "90210" moved down some 30% among its core 18-34 viewers, to a 2.1/6 from its big 3.0/8 rating in its debut week. It was also down 35% to a 1.7/5 among 18-49 viewers, from a 2.6/7 the week before.

CW says some markets ran the show out of pattern, so it didn't show up in preliminary ratings. But they could grow the final totals.

CW was fourth on the night among all networks, with a 1.8/5 against its core 18-34 viewers--behind Fox, ABC and CBS.

ABC was second at 2.7/7, with its best coming from "Wipeout"--a 3.0/8 at 9 p.m. and a 2.8/6 for another edition of the show at 8 p.m.

CBS was next at a 2.1/6, with the big-eye network reaching a 2.6/7 among 18-49 viewers for its summer reality stalwart "Big Brother 10."

Univision was fifth at 1.9/5, and CW finished sixth at 1.5/4.