Thanks to improved numbers for most of its comedy block, CBS moved to the top of the primetime standings among the broadcast nets on the third Monday of the season, according to preliminary nationals from Nielsen.

Although "The Class" continued to look soft at 8 (2.8/8 in adults 18-49, 8 million viewers overall), the net's "How I Met Your Mother" (3.6/9 in 18-49, 9.4 million viewers overall), "Two and a Half Men" (5.2/13 in 18-49, 15.9 million viewers overall) and "Old Christine" (4.5/11 in 18-49, 13.7 million viewers overall) were all up week to week, with "Christine" hitting season highs. CBS also was the top non-sports telecast in the 10 o'clock hour with "CSI: Miami" (5.7/15 in 18-49, 17.4 million viewers overall).

NBC held up well at 9 with week two of "Heroes" (5.3/13 in 18-49, 12.6 million viewers overall), down about 10% from its premiere, but then dropped sharply at 10 with the third seg of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" (3.5/9 in 18-49, 9.1 million viewers overall), which slid 17% from last week's 18-49 score and 30% from its premiere. The Peacock remained solid in the opening hour with "Deal or No Deal" (3.7/10 in 18-49, 13.0 million viewers overall), which tied with Fox's "Prison Break" (3.7/10 in 18-49, 8.9 million viewers overall) for the demo lead.

Also for Fox, "Vanished" (2.3/5 in 18-49, 6.4 million viewers overall) was up week to week but remained well behind rival nets.

ABC did OK but was nothing special with "Wife Swap" (3.0/9 in 18-49, 7.7 million viewers overall) and the two-hour premiere of "The Bachelor: Rome" (3.5/9 in 18-49, 8.9 million viewers overall). Net's numbers could come down in the nationals as its preliminary averages include football on the Alphabet's affils in Philadelphia and Milwaukee for the Eagles-Packers NFL game, which played on ESPN in the rest of the country.

At CW, "7th Heaven" (1.6/4 in 18-49, 4.3 million viewers overall) and "Runaway" (0.8/2 in 18-49, 2.0 million viewers overall) were both up slightly from their premieres, combining for a 1.3 rating/4 share for the night in adults 18-34.

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: CBS, 4.6/12; NBC, 4.2/11; ABC, 3.3/8; Fox, 3.0/8; CW, 1.2/3.

In total viewers: CBS, 13.6 million; NBC, 11.6 million; ABC, 8.5 million; Fox, 7.7 million; CW, 3.1 million.