Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings: ABC Wins; Repeat Populated CBS Finishes Second

-Disappointing:
So You Think You Can Dance (Fox)

-Yesterday's Losers (excluding repeats):
Heroes (NBC), One Tree Hill (CW), Trauma (NBC), Gossip Girl (CW), The Jay Leno Show (NBC)

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Note: The fast affiliate results for Monday will be posted at PIFeedback by 12 p.m. ET. Go to the website, click on Ratings Box (the first category), then Last Night's Results, and Monday, October 26, 2009.

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-Ratings Breakdown:
Opposite a night of all repeats on CBS, ABC opened the week on a winning overnight note, beating the encore telecasts on the Eye net by an average of 52 percent. In the distant No. 3 spot in the metered markets was Fox, followed by NBC and The CW.

ABC's Dancing With the Stars stood well above the competition, with a hefty 10.8 rating/17 share from 8-10 p.m. and growth in every half-hour. Here is the breakdown:

Dancing With the Stars (ABC)
8:00 p.m.: 9.7/15 (#1)
8:30 p.m.: 10.5/16 (#1)
9:00 p.m.: 11.4/17 (#1)
9:30 p.m.: 11.6/17 (#1)

As good as this performance is, and it is very good, Dancing With the Stars has suffered this season by too many contestants and a lackluster caliber of participants. Likely to depart in tonight's double elimination are Melissa Joan Hart and Louie Vito. Unfortunately, the former Sabrina, the Teenage Witch star is lacking magic on the dance floor. Louie Vito, meanwhile, should never have been asked to participate to begin with (as is the case with half of this season's contestants). Does anyone even know who he is?

Dancing With the Stars led into Castle, which finished second at 10 p.m. behind CBS' CSI: Miami encore with a 7.1/12. Retention for Castle out of the 9:30 p.m. portion of Dancing With the Stars was a typical 61 percent.

CBS managed to finish second in the overnights despite repeats of How I Met Your Mother (#2: 4.6/ 7), Accidentally on Purpose (#2: 4.1/ 6), Two and a Half Men (#2: 7.7/11), The Big Bang Theory (#2: 6.5/10) and CSI: Miami, which still won the 10 p.m. hour with a 7.6/12. Given these were all encore telecasts, this is respectable for CBS.

Fox took a hit in the overnights care of a Monday edition of So You Think You Can Dance (#4: 3.4/ 5) and 9 p.m. time period warmer Lie to Me (#3t: 3.5/ 5). But since the dance competition always manages to generate some interest among adults 18-49, consider this just "disappointing."Compared to its normal summer performance, however, it is obvious that So You Think You Can Dance should not be airing in the traditional (September to May) season. In other news, top 20 dancer Billy Bell has left the competition due to an illness and will be replaced by Brandon Durnlao.

NBC had another dismal Monday care of its line-up of Heroes (#4: 3.2/ 5), which needs to call it quits, Trauma (#4: 3.5/ 5), which is just burning off the remaining original episodes at this point, and colossal flop The Jay Leno Show (#3t: 3.5/ 6). One year earlier, former failed 10 p.m. scripted occupant My Own Worst Enemy dropped to a similar 3.7/ 6. How long can NBC waste the 10 p.m. weeknight hour with Jay Leno?

The CW closed this sixth night of the 2009-10 season with its combination of One Tree Hill (#5: 1.6/ 2) and Gossip Girl (#5: 1.4/ 2), which compared to the year-ago night (with the two serials in reverse order) dropped by a hefty 32 percent. While I understand who The CW's target audience is (young females, of course), from an overnight standpoint both One Tree Hill and Gossip Girl are "losers."For better rating news for The CW, see Ratings Box below.

Monday 10/26/09

HH
Rtg/Shr

ABC 9.6/15
CBS 6.3/10
Fox 3.5/ 5
NBC 3.4/ 5
CW 1.5/ 2

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-Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Monday, Oct. 27, 2008):

ABC: + 2, CBS: no change, NBC: -21, CW: -32, Fox: -60

Source: Nielsen Media Research data