ABC, CBS tie in 18-49; 'Dancing' still on its toes

By Paul J. Gough

April 11, 2007, ET

NEW YORK -- ABC and CBS tied for first place in the key adults 18-49 demographic Monday, while "Dancing With the Stars" stayed steady week to week.

CBS saw success with "The King of Queens," which improved upon its "Two and a Half Men" lead-in, and NBC's improvisational comedy "Thank God You're Here" did all right for the network between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. while the second week of "The Bachelor: An Officer and a Gentleman" was down slightly from the premiere a week ago.

The preliminary ratings were released Tuesday morning by Nielsen Media Research; final ratings will be released later in the day.

"Dancing" (18.7 million, 4.8/13) was the night's top show, up slightly in viewership and steady in the adults 18-49 demographic compared with last week.

"CSI: Miami" (15.9 million, 4.6/12) won the 10 p.m. hour, though it was the lowest original adults 18-49 rating in the show's history. It still easily beat the 90-minute "Bachelor" (9.2 million, 3.4/9), which was down slightly from last week (9.9 million, 3.7/9).

NBC had an hour of "Deal or No Deal" (10.9 million, 3.1/9) leading into the two-hour premiere of "Thank God" (8.3 million, 3.6/9). Although it improved on "Deal" in adults 18-49, viewership kept dropping throughout the night from 9.5 million at 9 p.m. to 6.3 million at 10:30 p.m.

Done with "Prison Break" for the season, Fox was in fourth place at 8 p.m. with a "House" repeat (7.3 million, 2.6/7) that led into "24" (11.4 million, 4.4/11) that was second place in the demo to CBS' "Men" (13.4 million, 4.5/11) and the return of "King" (13.4 million, 4.6/11).

Nightly averages: ABC (14 million, 4.1/11); CBS (12.3 million, 4.1/11); Fox (9.3 million, 3.5/9); NBC (9.2 million, 3.5/9); and the CW (2.1 million, 0.8/2).

ABC, CBS tie in 18-49; 'Dancing' still on its toes

By Paul J. Gough

April 11, 2007, ET