Ratings: 'Dancing' Wins, 'Event' Drops, No Miracle Bounce For 'Lone Star'

http://www.deadline.com/2010/09/ratings-rat-race-dancing-wins-event-drops-no-miracle-bounce-for-lone-star/

Here we are in the oh-so-important week 2 of the season. On the first night, it was great news for ABC, pretty good news for CBS, and not so good news for NBC and Fox.

NBC's flagship drama The Event (2.9/7 in adults 18-49, 9 million viewers overall) was down 19% from its promising premiere last week. The number will go up - NBC points out that the supernatural thriller was the most time-shifted series on the first 3 nights of last week. Still, a worrisome sign for the serialized series. Also down, 9%, was NBC's new 10 PM drama Chase (2.1/5), which finished third in the hour. At 8 PM, Chuck (1.9/5) was down 5%.

Lone Star creator's Kyle Killen prayers for a miracle ratings rebound in Week 2 were not answered. The soap (1.0/3) fell 23% from its disastrous premiere rating and tied the CW for fourth place in the 9 PM hour. What's worse, the numbers fell precipitously from the first to the second half-hour, by almost 50%. There is no chance the series would continue at these levels. House (3.8/10) was down 10% from its disappointing season premiere and is now running neck-and-neck with CBS' comedies for second place behind ABC in the 8 PM hour. (Fox's fast national ratings are time-adjusted)

Dancing with the Stars featuring Sarah Palin cheering for her daughter, drew a 4.8/8, down a modest 6% from last week's premiere. Castle (3.2/8) is runnig 19% higher from last week but will likely go down in the finals because of a Dance overrun and ABC's preemption in Milwaukee for the NFL game. ABC won the night in both adults 18-49 (3.7/10) and total viewers (11.1 million).

CBS' comedies held well, with freshman Mike and Molly posting the biggest week-to-week decline, a very modest 5%. How I Met Your Mother (3.8/11) was actually up 6% and beat Fox's House in the 8-8:30 PM slot. Rules of Engagement (3.2/8) at 8:30 PM was also slightly up, by 3%, while Two and a Half Men (4.8/12) was virtually flat, down 2%. Hawaii Five-0 (3.5/9) was down 10% but still won the 10 PM hour in all categories.