RATINGS RECAP: 11/29/10

ABC
8:00 Skating with the Stars
Viewers: 6.1 million, 18-49 demo: 1.2
9:30 CMA Country Christmas
Viewers: 7.3 million, 18-49 demo: 1.4

CBS
8:00 How I Met Your Mother (Repeat)
Viewers: 8.0 million, 18-49 demo: 2.5
8:30 Rules of Engagement (Repeat)
Viewers: 7.5 million, 18-49 demo: 2.2
9:00 Two and a Half Men (Repeat)
Viewers: 11.4 million, 18-49 demo: 3.0
9:30 Mike & Molly (Repeat)
Viewers: 8.8 million, 18-49 demo: 2.3
10:00 Hawaii Five-0 (Repeat)
Viewers: 7.8 million, 18-49 demo: 1.9

NBC
8:00 Chuck
Viewers: 6.2 million, 18-49 demo: 2.0
9:00 The Event
Viewers: 5.8 million, 18-49 demo: 1.9
10:00 Chase
Viewers: 6.0 million, 18-49 demo: 1.6

FOX
8:00 House (Repeat)
Viewers: 5.1 million, 18-49 demo: 1.6
9:00 Lie to Me
Viewers: 6.4 million, 18-49 demo: 2.2

ABC has fallen apart on Monday without Dancing with the Stars. Its replacement - Skating with the Stars - is not only not doing as well as Dancing, it's flopping badly. Good thing for ABC they only have a few weeks of this before the much more successful The Bachelor returns. Skating was down a rough 3.3 million viewers and 1.2 in the demo from last week's 9:13-11pm premiere. Don't expect any future editions of this show. A CMA special followed and improved on Skating but was well below Castle's usual numbers. CBS was in repeats the whole night but had respectable numbers - particularly a 3.0 demo for Two and a Half Men and a still very strong 8 million viewers for How I Met Your Mother. All these shows, particularly the veteran series, repeat well.

NBC had less competition than usual and benefited a bit with the last airing of this trio together. Chuck was up an impressive 1.4 million viewers and three tenths in the demo from last week. It hit a season high in viewers and tied a season high in the demo. The fall finale of The Event was up six tenths in viewers and two tenths in the demo. We now say goodbye to The Event until February 28. Will the already diminished audience return with it? Finally, Chase was up seven tenths in viewers and two tenths in the demo. The total viewer number is the best since the show's second episode as it benefited from no Castle and a Hawaii Five-0 repeat.

FOX started things off with a House repeat that had slightly better numbers than the last repeat in this slot on Oct 25. A new Lie to Me followed and had a nice boost from last week, when it was following a new House. It was up eight tenths in viewers and half a demo point. Despite having a repeat lead-in, it benefited from no Dancing with the Stars and reruns on CBS to post season highs in both categories. FOX has to be happy with those results and it may help its shaky status.