Ratings News - 4th October 2011 - Full Ratings Tables Added

Here are the Monday overnights:

Monday 10/03/11
Metered Market Results

Household
Rating/Share
ABC 10.6/16
CBS 7.9/12
Fox 6.3/ 9
NBC 2.9/ 4
CW 1.3/ 2

-Percent Change from Year-Ago Evening – Monday 10/04/10:
Fox: +15, CBS: + 7, ABC: -12, CW: -19, NBC: -31

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-Winners:
Dancing With the Stars (ABC), How I Met Your Mother (CBS), 2 Broke Girls (CBS), Two and a Half Men (CBS), Mike & Molly (CBS), House (Fox)

-Honorable Mention:
Castle (ABC)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
The Sing-Off (NBC), Gossip Girl (CW), Hart of Dixie (CW), The Playboy Club (NBC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
ABC led this third Monday of the 2011-12 season in the overnights, beating second-place CBS by 34 percent. But the network’s still dominant Dancing With the Stars has lost steam and Two and a Half Men on CBS has settled in after the initial curiosity about Ashton Kutcher. Third over was Fox, which had a respectable performance for week two of Terra Nova, followed by struggling NBC and distant The CW.

Dancing With the Stars finished first in each of its four half-hours with an average 11.8 rating/18 share from 8-10 p.m. While any network would be satisfied with an overnight performance of this magnitude, compared to one year earlier (14.1/21 on 10/04/10) this was down by 16 percent. Even so, Dancing With the Stars is still a notable force, with the half-hour breakdown as follows:

Dancing With the Stars (ABC)
8:00 p.m.: 11.5/18 (#1)
8:30 p.m.: 12.1/18 (#1)
9:00 p.m.: 12.0/17 (#1)
9:30 p.m.: 11.7/17 (#1)

My pick to bid adieu tonight: Chaz Bono, who just cannot cut a rug.

Dancing With the Stars led into Castle, which won the 10 p.m. hour in the overnights with an 8.1/13. Comparably, retention out of the 9:30 p.m. portion of Dancing With the Stars was 69 percent.

Over at CBS, the standout once again was Two and a Half Men at a solid second-place 11.3/16 at 9 p.m., which will translate into a time period win among adults 18-49. While that has dropped significantly from its inflated first two weeks of the season (Sept. 19: 18.7/26, Sept. 26: 13.3/19), year-to-year this was an increase of 24 percent (9.1/13 to 11.3/16). And Two and a Half Men outdelivered week three of lead-in 2 Broke Girls (#2: 7.5/11 at 8:30 p.m.) by a significant 51 percent. While 2 Broke Girls dipped by five percent from one week earlier (7.9/11 on 9/26), take a look at its overnight performance versus year-ago occupant Rules of Engagement:

CBS/Monday 8:30 p.m.
10/04/10 – Rules of Engagement: 5.2/ 8 (#3)
10/03/11 – 2 Broke Girls: 7.5/11 (#2)
Percent Change: +44

Needless to say, the full season pick-up for 2 Broke Girls will be arriving at any moment.

Earlier in the evening on CBS was How I Met Your Mother at a very solid (and second-place) 6.8/10 at 8 p.m. Comparatively, that was an increase of 17 percent from one year earlier (5.8/ 9 on 10/04/10). Capping off the evening for the Eye net was Mike & Molly (#2: 8.3/12 -- up 11 percent from one year earlier) and Hawaii Five-O (#2: 6.8/11 -- down by 19 percent) from 9:30-11 p.m. Based on the last night’s episode, it is very obvious why Melissa McCarthy won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy.

In week two news, Terra Nova on Fox scored a respectable 5.9/ 9 in the overnights at 8 p.m., which dipped by only eight percent from its two-hour week-ago series-opener (6.4/ 9 on 9/26/11). Compared to former time period House one year earlier (7.1/10 on 10/04/10), that was a loss of 17 percent. House, now at 9 p.m., returned last night with a third-place 6.8/10, which built from the 8:30 p.m. portion of Terra Nova (6.0/ 9) by 13 percent and year-ago drama Lie to Me (3.9/ 6 on 10/04/10) by 74 percent.

Also in week two news, CW drama Hart of Dixie dropped to a 1.4/ 2 at 9 p.m., which was seven percent below year-ago occupant Gossip Girl (1.5/ 2 on 10/04/10) and 18 percent below its week-ago debut (1.7/ 2 on 9/26/11). Gossip Girl, now at 8 p.m., could only muster a 1.2/ 2 in the overnights at 8 p.m. Obviously, this is not a good season to-date for The CW.

NBC, meanwhile, has fumbled the ratings ball on Monday with its combination of two-hours of The Sing-Off (#4: 3.0/ 4 from 8-10 p.m.), which never should have aired outside of December, and week three of colossal flop The Playboy Club, which dipped to a very last-place 2.7/ 4 at 10 p.m. Three-week overnight track for The Playboy Club: 3.9/ 6 – 3.3/ 5 – 2.7/ 4. Compared to failed year-ago occupant Chase (3.8/ 6 on 10/04/10), The Playboy Club last night declined by 29 percent. NBC would be wise to move Harry’s Law back into the Monday 10 p.m. hour immediately and replace Harry’s Law in the Wednesday 9 p.m. hour with upcoming newsmagazine Rock Center with Brian Williams.

And there you have it…the Monday overnights.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Source: Marc Berman@TVMediaInsights