Like CBS with its procedurals, or Fox with American Idol, ABC has a huge hit in Dancing With the Stars.  Ratings for Monday, October 25 put ABC squarely in first place by a significant margin for the 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. primtime hours.

At 8:00 p.m., Dancing With the Stars pulled in 19.3 million viewers.  The number increased for the second hour of the show, pulling in 21 million viewers.  CBS came in second place in both hours, with How I Met Your Mother (8.4 million)/Rules of Engagement (8.3 million) at 8:00 p.m. and Two and a Half Men (13.7 million)/Mike and Molly (10.85 million). 

As for NBC, Chuck and The Event pulled in 5.4 million and 5.9 million respectively.  Fox came in fourth place with a House rerun at 8:00 p.m.  and a new Lie to Me at 9:00 p.m. (4.3 million).  The CW's Monday night line-up of 90210 and Gossip Girl pulled in 2 millioin and 1.9 million respectively.

ABC's Castle also won the 10:00 p.m. time slot with 11.8 million, but it more narrowly beat CBS's second place show of Hawaii Five-0, which pulled in 10 million.  NBC was in third place with Chase (4.9 million).

ABC won the entire night as the 18-49 leader.  While ESPN's Monday Night Football took some viewers away from the regular line-up, Dancing With the Stars actually improved over last week's episodes on Monday.

Source: Nielson