• by Wayne Friedman , October 21, 2008

CBS continues its winning Mondays--while NBC still looks for answers from its established and new shows.

CBS earned a 3.9/10 among 18-49 viewers thanks to the No. 1-rated program on the night, "Two and a Half Men," which took in a Nielsen preliminary 5.1 rating/10 share. Its other comedies also continued strong: "Big Bang Theory" with a 3.5/9 and "How I Met Your Mother" grabbing a 3.9/10.

At 10 p.m., CBS won the hour with drama "CSI: Miami," which took a 3.8/10. All this gave CBS a 3.9/10 average on Monday night.

In the battle of new shows with the word "worst" in their title, CBS' "Worst Week" bested NBC "My Own Worst Enemy" with a 3.2 rating/7 share to a 2.5 rating/6 share. Even then, CBS' "Worst Week" was its worst-performing show of the night. It airs at 9:30 p.m.

NBC recovered a bit with "Chuck" at 8 p.m. earning a 2.5/6 for the night. But "Heroes" at 9 p.m. took a step back to a 3.9/9, down from a 4.3/10 the week before. Then at 10 p.m., NBC's well-received drama "My Own Worst Week" could only muster a 2.5/6, less than its 3.0/8 debut a week ago.

NBC's "Week" numbers are similar to its other new show, "Knight Rider," which recently got an order for another nine episodes--mostly because of its performance in drawing younger viewers.

The CW has had a lot to crow about this season. Its stalwart "One Tree Hill" grabbed a best-ever 3.0/8 number among 18-34 viewers. The network's other Monday night show, "Gossip Girl," was down a bit versus a week ago. It earned a 1.4/4 among 18-49 viewers versus a 1.6/4 the week before, as well as with overall viewers--at 3.0 million against 3.3 million.

ABC held steady for the night--up a bit with "Dancing with the Stars," a 4.1/10, earning the same numbers as a week ago with "Samantha Who?" at a 3.0/7. "Boston Legal" at 10 p.m. continued to bring up the rear with a 2.3/6, up from a 2.1/5 in its previous outing.

For the night, ABC came in second at a 3.3/8; NBC followed with a 2.9/7; Fox earned a 2.2/5; and CW and Univision came in with a 1.7/4.