In a good sign for the struggling CW, returning dramas "Gossip Girl" and "One Tree Hill" opened their seasons to promising numbers Monday night, with the former hitting some series-best results.
Fox, meanwhile, did OK but was nothing special with its early season preem of "Prison Break."
According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, the second-season premiere of "Gossip Girl" (1.7 rating/6 share in adults 18-49, 3.4 million viewers overall) hit series highs in 18-49 as well as the net's target demo of adults 18-34 (2.3/7). It ran second to Fox's "Prison Break" in adults 18-34 and led its hour in women 18-34 (3.2/10).
And at 9, vet drama "One Tree Hill" (1.6/4 in 18-49, 3.1 million viewers overall) retained 100% of its "Gossip Girl" lead-in among adults 18-34, winning its hour in women 18-34 (3.3/9) and improving on its fifth-season preem last January.
Combined, the dramas gave the CW its best Monday ever in adults 18-34 (2.3/7) and some key female demos.Fox's "Prison Break" averaged a 2.6/7 in 18-49 and 6.5 million viewers overall for its two-hour, fourth-season premiere, building to a timeslot-leading 2.8/7 in the demo from 9 to 10 p.m., where it will regularly air this fall.
"Prison" was down from last year's hourlong opener in mid-September (3.3/9 in 18-49, 7.5 million viewers overall), but this was a fairly solid showing for a Labor Day bow. NBC had a solid showing with original episodes of "Deal or No Deal" (2.8/8 in 18-49, 10.9 million viewers overall) and "America's Toughest Jobs" (2.6/7 in 18-49, 7.5 million viewers overall), with the former standing as the night's top program in both the demo and overall audience.CBS had a pretty quiet night with repeats of its comedies, led as usual by "Two and a Half Men" (2.9/8 in 18-49, 8.9 million viewers overall). The broadcast nets did very little in the 10 o'clock hour with news hours devoted to the limited actitivites at the opening night of the Republican National Convention as well as the latest developments regarding Hurricane Gustav.
NBC fared the best (1.5/4 in 18-49, 4.8 million viewers overall), well ahead of CBS (0.9/3 in 18-49, 3.5 million viewers overall) and ABC (0.8/2 in 18-49, 3.8 million viewers overall).Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 2.6/7; NBC, 2.2/6; CBS and CW, 1.6/4; Univision, 1.4/4; ABC, 0.7/2.In total viewers: NBC, 7.9 million; Fox, 6.5 million; CBS, 5.2 million; CW, 3.3 million; Univision, 2.9 million; ABC, 2.5 million.
