Fall season beings: ‘Dancing’ tops, ‘The Event’ surprises, ‘Lone Star’ disappoints

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And we're off! The fall broadcast season got underway Monday night with a triumphant return for ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" and solid debuts for several new shows.

-- "Dancing With the Stars" (21.0 million viewers, 5.0 preliminary adults 18-49 rating) returned up sharply from last fall and gave ABC the highest-rated show on the season's opening night. "Dancing" drew a younger-than-usual audience, marking its best-ever fall premiere among teens. Though even the inspired casting of Bristol Palin and The Situation couldn't overthrow last spring's Kate Gosselin-fueled opener. Last fall: 4.1 / spring: 6.4.

-- CBS' "Hawaii Five-0" (13.8 million, 3.8) opened strong, though not as big as expectations. While easily winning 10 p.m., the heavily promoted debut dipped a tenth of a point from its "Mike & Molly" lead-in and fell slightly after its first half hour. Last fall's premiere-week rating in the time period was also higher: 4.3 ("CSI: Miami," which has been moved to Sunday nights this fall).

-- The critically acclaimed "Lone Star" (4.1 million, 1.3) was expected to have an uphill battle drawing viewers, but not this much trouble. The cable-style show ended up with a cable-sized rating. Last fall: 2.9 ("Lie to Me").

-- NBC's "The Event" (11.2 million, 3.7). Along with "Lone Star," this is the big surprise of the morning -- only wholly positive. Expectations were all over the place for this "Lost"-meets-"24" drama, with some predicting the show would utterly bomb. Nobody thought "The Event" would be a tenth of a point from matching "Hawaii Five-0" this morning. Last fall: 2.2 ("Trauma").


-- "Castle" (11.2 million, 2.8) posted significant gains, not surprisingly. The show was expected to be aided by its "Dancing" lead-in and grew in the numbers during last season. Last fall: 2.3.

-- CBS comedies: "How I Met Your Mother" (8.8 million, 3.6), "Rules of Engagement" (8.3 million, 3.1), "Two and a Half Men" (14.5 million, 4.8) and "Mike & Molly" (12.2 million, 3.9). Big question here was how much weaker would the lineup perform overall with "Rules" and new comedy "Mike & Molly" in the mix instead of "Big Bang Theory." Last fall: 3.6 ("Mother"), 3.3 ("Accidentally on Purpose"), 4.5 ("Half Men") and 4.7 ("Big Bang").

-- Fox's top-rated "House" (10.5 million, 4.1) was down notably. Last fall: 6.7.

-- NBC's "Chuck" (6.1 million, 2.1). Last fall and spring debut numbers were both 2.9 ("Heroes" and "Chuck").

-- NBC's numbers dropped going into Jerry Bruckheimer's procedural thriller "Chase" (7.9 million, 2.5). Last fall: 5.3 ("Jay Leno Show").