NBC's remake of "American Gladiators" continued to display impressive results Monday, posting a rating from 8:30 to 9 p.m. (its second half hour) close to what ABC's hit "Dancing with the Stars"
usually delivers.
Meanwhile, the debut of ABC's spinoff of the dance competition "Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann" finished a distant third in the 8 p.m. hour.
As expected, Fox's
coverage of the college football national championship game defeated both "Gladiators" and "Dance War" handily at 8, posting a 6.6 in "live-plus-same-day" adult 18-to-49 performance.
But the 4.8
"Gladiators" rating could be a signal that the series--which moved into its regular time slot Monday--has the potential to be much more than an also-ran, perhaps even a top-15 show if its current
performance holds. Notably, ratings grew 23% from the first half-hour to the second. Its 5.3 rating from 8:30 to 9 was only slightly less than the 5.4 rating "Dancing with the Stars"--a top-10
show--delivered in November, its finale month, on Mondays.
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The male-skewing "Gladiators" also topped "Dance War" among women 18-to-49 (4.6 to 4.1) and out-rated Fox's football slightly (4.5) in
that demo.
Next week, Fox returns with a new episode of "Prison War" at 8 that could cut into NBC's audience. One reason: It's possible that "Gladiators" was actually helped by the college
football championship Monday. Viewers may have tuned in at 8, but then encountered the 24-minute pre-game show and looked elsewhere for an alternative before the action started.
At 10 p.m.
Monday, NBC won the time slot in non-sports programming with the return of drama "Medium," which posted a 3.3.