• by Wayne Friedman , October 7, 2008

CBS won its third Monday in a row, with ABC and Fox improving on the night from a week ago. NBC headed in the other direction. CBS edged out ABC in the overall win among key 18-49 viewers on the night with a Nielsen preliminary 4.0 rating/10 share, improving a bit from a week ago.

 

In one key battle--the 9 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. time period--CBS' "Two and a Half Men" bested the second hour of "Dancing with the Stars" with a 5.1/12 to a 4.7/11.

CBS "CSI: Miami" easily bested other competitors at 10 p.m., reaching a 4.0/10--although down 10% for the week. Its nearest competitor was ABC's "Boston Legal" at a 2.4/6. CBS also had continued good results from "How I Met Your Mother" at 8:30 p.m., which earned a 4.0/10.

Against big competition on the night, Fox's two dramas improved slightly from a week ago: "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" took a 2.3/6, while "Prison Break" grabbed a 2.2/5.

One big loser on the night was NBC, which continues an alarming drop with its drama "Heroes" at 9 p.m.--down another 13% to a 4.0/9 from a 4.5/11. One silver lining: the show could do better in the live-plus- seven-day ratings of DVR playback. "Heroes" is one of the top DVR programs among network programs.

NBC also did poorly with "Chuck" at 8 p.m., down 13% from the week before to a 2.2/6 from a 2.7/7. Both "Chuck" and "Heroes" were at series lows among 18-49 viewers. For the night, NBC was at a 2.8/7, down from a 3.3/8 the week before.

ABC rose higher--to a 3.8/9 from a 3.6/9 the week before. "Dancing with the Stars" moved up slightly to a 4.5/11 from a 4.4/11. Although "Boston Legal" is still way behind in second place to "CSI: Miami," it picked up four-tenths of a rating point to a 2.4/6 from a 2.0/5 the week before among 18-49 viewers.

Univision was at a 1.7/4 among 18-49 viewers. It tied Fox with a 2.1/6 among young viewers ages 18-34.

At the bottom of the pack was the CW, in rerun mode for "Gossip Girl." it earned just 0.8/2 among 18-49 viewers and 1.2/3 among its core 18-34 viewers. A "Privileged" repeat got about the same results a 0.8/2 for 18-49 viewers and a 1.1/3 among 18-34 viewers.