• by Wayne Friedman , September 25, 2012

NBC struck first blood -- winning the first night of the TV season. But it took some cuts from a week ago versus other network premieres for the night.

Other networks also had some troubles: The new look for CBS took a hit on Monday, a night that had been an easy win for the network for many years. In part, this came from moving out its longtime leader -- "Two and a Half Men" -- to Thursday.

For the night overall, NBC scored a Nielsen preliminary 4.0 rating/10 share among 18-49 viewers -- with CBS, ABC and Fox, well back at a 2.7/7; 2.6/7; and 1.7/5, respectively.

NBC lost about a half a rating point for "The Voice," still at a night-leading 4.3 rating/11 share from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Its rookie 10 p.m. drama "Revolution," with its second episode of the year, also dropped to a 3.5/9.

But the good news for "Revolution" was: The NBC show bested two network veteran 10 p.m. dramas. ABC's "Castle" was at 2.5/6, down from a 3.2 rating for its 2011 premiere. CBS' "Hawaii 5-0" fell further to a 1.9/4 -- about half the results of its 3.4 rating for 2011 premiere.

CBS was counting on "How I Met Your Mother" at 8 p.m. to carry the launch of new comedy "Partners." "Mother" climbed to a 3.4/10, down from a 4.7 a year ago, with "Partners" pulling in a respectable -- but not great -- 2.4/6, at 8:30 p.m.

CBS' "2 Broke Girls," the strongest new sitcom last year, witnessed its initial 7.1 rating being cut down to a 3.7/9 this year, at 9 p.m. It should be said that a year ago, "Girls" had a massive push off in its first season at 9:30 p.m. thanks to the hype surrounding the relaunch of "Two and a Half Men" with Ashton Kutcher.

Fox stayed about the same as a week ago. "Bones" had a 2.2/6, down from a 2.3 rating. Its new drama at 9 p.m., "The Mob Doctor," at 1.3/3 was less than the 1.5 rating from its week-ago premiere.

ABC's best came from the premiere two-hour version of "Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars," now in its 14th season -- also down from a 3.5 a year ago, to a 2.7/7.

Following these networks, Univision averaged 1.5/4 among 18-49 viewers for Monday, and CW earned a 0.2/1.

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