• by David Goetzl , January 8, 2008

NBC's premiere of the remake of "American Gladiators" posted a surprisingly strong showing Sunday, delivering the best debut for any new show this season.

The series premiered with a 5.9 in "live-plus-same-day" 18-to-49 ratings for the special 9-to-11 p.m. premiere--and saw its ratings build in the second hour.

At 9 p.m., it trailed handily a new episode of ABC's "Desperate Housewives" (7.2 to 5.7), but easily toppled the special premiere of ABC's "Cashmere Mafia" at 10 (6.0 to 3.8) as its ratings gained.

"Cashmere Mafia," however, performed better among women in the 18-to-49 and 25-to-54 demos, but "Gladiators" won among women in the younger 18-to-34 segment.

"Gladiators" may have a tough time maintaining its success. Last night, it moved to its regular Monday at 8 p.m. time slot, where it will face regular competition from ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" spinoff, "Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann," and Fox's "Prison Break" (which will soon run out of new episodes if the writers' strike persists). Last night, both NBC and ABC went against the college football national championship on Fox.

"Cashmere Mafia" also moves to another night; its Sunday ratings came in lower than the season average for ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" in the post "Desperate Housewives" slot.