NBC wins Monday night
'Gladiators,' 'Deal' help beat Fox
According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, "American Gladiators" (4.3 rating/10 share in adults 18-49, 10.1 million viewers overall) dominated the night's opening hour, topping Fox's second-place "Prison Break" (3.1/8 in 18-49, 7.8 million viewers overall) by nearly 40% in the demo. And an hour later, gameshow "Deal or No Deal" (4.4/10 in 18-49, 14.1 million viewers overall) posted a similar demo score in defeating Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" (3.6/8 in 18-49, 8.6 million viewers overall) and CBS' repeat comedy block of "Two and a Half Men" (4.0/9 in 18-49, 11.5 million viewers overall) and "Rules of Engagement" (3.1/7 in 18-49, 8.5 million viewers overall).
"Sarah Connor" was down by 14% vs. its week-earlier series premiere, following huge numbers for a special post-football preview episode on Jan. 13. It ran neck and neck with the CBS comedies in 18-49 and won its hour in key male demos.
NBC kept its winning ways going at 10 o'clock with an original episode of "Medium" (3.4/9 in 18-49, 10.1 million viewers overall), which won out in demos over CBS' repeat of "CSI: Miami" (3.1/8 in 18-49, 10.4 million viewers overall) and ABC's firstrun drama "October Road" (1.9/5 in 18-49, 5.0 million viewers overall). The CBS crime vet still won out in total viewers.
ABC's "October" didn't get much lead-in support from comedy "Notes From the Underbelly" at 9:30 (1.6/4 in 18-49, 4.7 million viewers overall). The Alphabet was also softer than usual starting out the night with reality competition series "Dance War" (2.6/6 in 18-49, 9.8 million viewers overall), which posted its lowest scores in its three weeks on the air.
Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: NBC, 4.0/10; Fox, 3.3/8; CBS, 3.1/8; ABC, 2.2/5; CW, 0.7/2.
In total viewers: NBC, 11.4 million; CBS, 9.3 million; Fox, 8.2 million; ABC, 7.3 million; CW, 1.7 million.
