Primetime Ratings: 'House' Tops Humor

Fox scored with moving drama House to Monday night at 8 p.m., easily winning the time period with a 5.4 rating/13 share in the 18-49 demo, according to Nielsen overnight numbers, and taking the night CBS has owned consistently with its Monday night sitcom lineup.

Fox's 24 lost much of that lead-in audience, but held on to enough of it to come in the second in its 9-10 p.m. time period with a 4.1/9, just behind CBS' 4.2/10 for Two and a Half Men, which averaged a 5.4/12, the night's second highest-rated show behind House. Worst Week brought that hourly average down with a 3/7.

Fox won the night with a 4.8/11.

CBS was second with a 4.1/10, led by Two and a Half Men, and had strong showings from Big Bang Theory (4/10) and How I Met Your Mother (4.5/11).

ABC was third with a 3.2/8, led by The Bachelor with a 3.9/9.

NBC was fourth with a 1.7/4, unable to crack a 2 rating with any show on the night. NBC had hoped to emulate ABC's ratings success with dance with its Superstars of Dance competition, but the show has never caught on. It averaged only a 1.7/4 over its two hour semifinal airing, though it did build from its first hour up against House to its second hour.

The CW averaged a 1.1/3 with Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.