Tv Ratings, Dancing With The Stars | featured news

Two popular reality shows made a splash upon their re-entry during the past week – and a new one had a strong debut. A new episode of "Dancing With the Stars" premiered on ABC last week before 17 million viewers, just behind CBS drama "NCIS" as the week's most popular program. It was down to 14.5 million Monday night, facing competition from the return of "The Voice" on NBC.

There was lots of good news on Monday night, as "The Voice" and "Dancing with the Stars" both saw week-to-week growth and helped carry NBC and ABC to their regular Monday split.

After NBC dropped from first among young Monday viewers last week, "The Voice" got a bit of a finale bump and helped the network reclaim that crown. ABC still easily won Monday overall, thanks to "Dancing with the Stars" and a "Castle" finale bump.

Against mostly atypical competition, CBS’ regular Monday lineup dominated every half-hour in its return to originals last night after a week of repeats. ABC’s Dancing With The Stars, a huge draw among total viewers, sucks out (mostly older) audiences from the competition. As they didn’t face Dancing with originals for the first time this season, CBS’ comedies boosted their viewership. How I Met Your Mother (4.5/12 in adults 18-49, 11.7 million total viewers) was up a tenth in the demo vs. two weeks ago and drew its largest audience with a regularly scheduled episode in almost three years. (since January 12, 2009).

Very minor declines aside, "Dancing with the Stars" maintained its place as Monday's most watched program by a wide margin. CBS, however, was able to rule the night in the key demographic thanks to "Big Bang Theory" and "CSI: Miami."

"Dancing With the Stars" and series-high scores for sophomore drama "Castle" carried ABC to a rather easy primetime ratings victory Monday, a night when the top scripted programs on competing networks aired in repeats.