CBS stays on top on Monday

NBC's 'Enemy' still searching for audience

By RICK KISSELL

Boosted by the night's No. 1 program, "Two and a Half Men," CBS locked up another Monday demo victory on a night when NBC's "My Own Worst Enemy" again looked unimpressive in its second week. "Dancing With the Stars," meanwhile, helped ABC stay comfortably ahead in total viewers.

According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, CBS ran a solid second to "Dancing" in the night's opening hour with comedies "The Big Bang Theory" (3.5/9 in 18-49, 9.3 million viewers overall) and "How I Met Your Mother" (3.9/10 in 18-49, 9.4 million viewers overall) before surging to the timeslot lead in demos at 9 o'clock with "Two and a Half Men" (5.1/12 in 18-49, 14.6 million viewers overall). The net then took a step back at 9:30 with rookie laffer "Worst Week" (3.2/7 in 18-49, 9.9 million viewers overall), which was in line with its recent performances, and then ruled as the top broadcaster at 10 o'clock with "CSI: Miami" (3.8/10 in 18-49, 13.2 million viewers overall).

ABC started off nicely with "Dancing With the Stars" (4.1/10 in 18-49, 18.6 million viewers overall), with sophomore comedy "Samantha Who" holding steady in its second week back at 9:30 (3.0/7 in 18-49, 11.0 million viewers overall). At 10, "Boston Legal" (2.3/6 in 18-49, 9.0 million viewers overall) was up slightly week to week. (Note that the ABC results include numbers for the Boston affiliate, which aired the New England Patriots-Denver Broncos contest.)

NBC's "Chuck" (2.5/6 in 18-49, 6.7 million viewers overall) looked a bit healthier kicking off the night, but "Heroes" (3.9/9 in 18-49, 8.5 million viewers overall) was on the low side at 9 o'clock. Closing out the night, drama "My Own Worst Enemy" (2.5/6 in 18-49, 5.7 million viewers overall) was down about 15% from its mediocre bow of the previous week.

Fox remained sluggish on the night with "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" (2.1/5 in 18-49, 5.3 million viewers overall) and "Prison Break" (2.3/5 in 18-49, 5.8 million viewers overall), while CW's veteran sudser "One Tree Hill" had a strong performance (1.9/4 in 18-49, 3.6 million viewers overall), building nicely on its "Gossip Girl" lead-in (1.4/4 in 18-49, 3.0 million viewers overall) and matching its series-best delivery among adults 18-34 (3.0/8).

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: CBS, 3.9/10; ABC, 3.3/8; NBC, 2.9/7; Fox, 2.2/5; CW and Univision, 1.7/4.

In total viewers: ABC, 14.1 million; CBS, 11.6 million; NBC, 7.0 million; Fox, 5.6 million; Univision, 4.2 million; CW, 3.3 million.