Ratings: 'Dancing' And 'Mike & Molly' Up, 'Chase' Way Down On Monday

http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/ratings-rat-race-dancing-and-mike-molly-up-chase-way-down-on-monday/

The big Monday Night Football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants on ESPN had an impact on the broadcast networks last night, with male-skewing shows down across the board, including series lows for recently renewed freshmen The Event, Chase and Hawaii Five-0, while female-friendly fare did just fine, with ABC's Dancing with the Stars up week-to-week and CW's 90210, scoring its most watched episode of the season. As for MNF, it drew a 12.3 metered market rating, its best this fall, peaking at 10 PM when it was up 93% from last week's game.

Dancing (4.2/11) was up 5%, while Castle (3.0/8) posted another fast national inflated by a Dancing overrun. Expect Castle to go down by a couple of notches and Dancing to possibly go up a tenth in the finals.

Some disturbingly low numbers for NBC, whose Monday night is unraveling. At 2.0/5 The Event, which was down 9%, actually ranked as the network's highest-rated telecast last night, ahead of Chuck (1.9/5), which was flat in 18-49 and saw an uptick in total viewers, and Chase (1.3/4), which was down a steep 19% to ratings levels that doomed fellow newcomers Lone Star, My Generation and The Whole Truth. Both The Event and Chase hit series lows.

CBS' lineup was solid under the circumstances. How I Met Your Mother (3.2/9), Rules of Engagement (2.9/8) and Two and a Half Men (4.3/11) all matched their fast national numbers from last week. (HIMYM and Men went up a tenth in the finals and will probably to do so again today.) Nice bump for new comedy Mike & Molly (3.6/9), which was up .2 from its fast national number last week (.1 from its final rating), improving its Men lead-in retention to 84%. Hawaii Five-0 (2.8/7) was down a tenth from last week to a series low. It currently runs behind Castle at 10 PM in 18-49 and total viewers but will probably pull at least even in the finals.

With a House rerun (1.4/4) instead of an original as a lead-in last night, Fox's Lie to Me (1.5/4) fell sharply, by 21%.

CW's 90210 (2.0 million, 1.3/4 in 18-34) scored a season high in total viewers and matched season highs in the key demos. At 9 PM, Gossip Girl (1.9 million, 1.4/4 in 18-34) dipped in total viewers but built in 18-34 to help CW log its most watched Monday of the season.