• by Wayne Friedman , August 8, 2007

NBC's "The Singing Bee" finally flew solo this Monday--after weeks of having "America's Got Talent" as its protector-lead in.

The bad news: "Bee" dived from its 3.0 to 3.5 ratings to a Nielsen 2.5 rating/8 share. The good news: its 2.5 rating won the 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. time period. Plus, more viewers tuned into the show's second half-hour than the first half-hour--always a barometer of audience interest.

Add in NBC's "Age of Love" 2.5/7 and "Dateline"'s 2.4/7, and NBC moved up to a healthy second-place spot with 2.5/7 average numbers for the night.

NBC couldn't keep pace with the summer ratings leader: Fox. Powered by a 4.3/12 from "Hell's Kitchen" at 9 p.m., the top-rated show of the night, Fox won Monday night with average numbers of 3.0/9.

CBS and ABC were next in line--tying for third place with a 2.1/6. CBS' best came from a repeat of "Two and a Half Men" at 9 p.m. with a 2.6/7. ABC managed a 2.4/8 from "Wife Swap" at 8 p.m.

CW's repeats of its sitcom block took a 0.6/2 for the night. MyNetworkTV grabbed about half of those numbers for "IFL Battleground," with a 0.3/1.