Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings: ABC Wins; CBS' CSI: Miami Dominant But Down

-Honorable Mention:
Deal or No Deal (NBC), Bones (Fox)

-Disappointing:
Samantha Who? (ABC)

-Yesterday's Losers (Excluding Repeats):
The Big Bang Theory (CBS), Gossip Girl (CW), The Bachelor: London Calling (ABC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
ABC danced its way to another overnight Monday victory, followed by CBS, NBC, Fox and the CW. But dominance among adults 18-49 could swing in CBS' direction. Don't forget to check out the fast affiliate results at PIFeedback.com by approximately 12 p.m. ET.

ABC's Dancing With the Stars led the Monday troops, with a rock-solid 11.8 rating/18 share from 8-9:30 p.m. Take a look at the half-hour breakdown:

Dancing With the Stars (ABC)
8:00 p.m. 10.9/17 (#1)
8:30 p.m. 11.8/18 (#1)
9:00 p.m. 12.6/19 (#1)

Sadly, it looks like the amazing Marlee Matlin will probably be exiting tonight. As for Marissa Jaret Winokur, Sony Pictures Television made the right decision signing this burst of energy to host her own daytime talk show in fall 2009.

All is not necessarily well on Monday for ABC, however, with 9:30 p.m. occupant Samantha Who? dipping to a 6.8/10 in the overnights (tied for second in the time period), followed by The Bachelor: London Calling at a last-place 4.7/ 8 from 10-11 p.m. Retention for Samantha Who? out of the last half-hour of Dancing With the Stars was just 54 percent.

CBS opened the evening on a disappointing note, with should-be-addictive The Big Bang Theory at a fourth-place 4.6/ 7 in the overnights at 8 p.m. Comparably, that was only a slight improvement over a repeat of How I Met Your Mother on the year-ago evening (4.3/ 7 on April 23, 2007). Next was How I Met Your Mother (#4: 5.0/ 8 at 8:30 p.m.), which is benefiting by the higher HUT levels, followed by the always reliable Two and a Half Men (#2: 8.3/12 -- 66 percent above HIMYM) and Rules of Engagement (#2t, 6.8/10), which held a comfortable 82 percent of the Two and a Half Men lead-in. Potentially concerning, however, is still dominant CSI: Miami (9.7/16 at 10 p.m.), which was down by a noticeable 20 percent year-to-year (9.7/16 vs. 12.1/19 on April 23, 2007). Has the CSI franchise sprung a leak?

NBC got some mileage out of a two-hour edition of Deal or No Deal, which averaged a 6.2/10 from 8-10 p.m., with the half-hour breakdown as follows:

Deal or No Deal (NBC)
8:00 p.m. 5.1/ 8 (#3)
8:30 p.m. 6.2/10 (#2)
9:00 p.m. 6.1/ 9 (#3)
9:30 p.m. 7.3/11 (#1)

Next was the already renewed for midseason Medium, which was second with a 6.8/11 in the overnights at 10 p.m.

Fox was on the Monday map care of the underrated Bones (#2: 5.8/ 9) and a repeat of House (#4: 5.6/ 9). But an original episode of the CW's Gossip Girl limped out of the gate with a distant fifth-place 1.8/ 3 from 8-9 p.m. That led into One Tree Hill with a 2.0/ 3, which deserves positive mention for building by 11 percent out of Gossip Girl

Monday 4/21/08

Household Rating/Share
ABC: 8.6/13
CBS: 7.4/11
NBC: 6.4/10
Fox: 5.7/ 9
CW: 1.9/ 3

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-Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Monday, April 23, 2007)
Fox: +12, NBC: - 4, CW: -10, CBS: -12, ABC: -14,

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

-- Marc Berman

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