Heroes

Oh, my.  Whether you loved or hated the Heroes season premiere creatively, the numbers say that nobody really cared whether Heroes could achieve 'redemption.'  The fourth season of NBC's ailing franchise was D.O.A., dragging the peacock to a fourth place finish. Wow, season 4... fourth place... is there a numerologist in the house?  Wouldn't matter, because no matter how you dice those numbers nothing good can come of it.  I'll be charitable and say that the Heroes premiere was far from the cluster-frak of last season, but it was still bursting at the seams with trite MacGuffins, puzzling story choices, and a self-referential moment that was just... weird. (Kring's Crossing Jordan was a great series, having characters mention it in Heroes was difficult to process - it was as if they were recalling the good old days.)

Heroes started the night with 6.3 million viewers in its first hour, but slipped down to 5.8 million in its second.  Given the history of the show, that continue will show as attrition sets in - and the numbers are pretty consistent with where Heroes left off last season meaning this decline is terminal.  Let the "Save Heroes" campaigns begin.

House, on the other hand, brought the heat and actually grew from its first hour to its second, a trend that isn't so common on two-hour episodes.  House came withing 400,000 viewers of reality juggernaut Dancing With the Stars, which is showing some wear as well.  Here is how things worked out for the evening:

8:00 pm

ABC -"Dancing with the Stars" season premiere (17.4 million viewers, 11.0/17 households)
FOX - "House" season premiere (15.8 million, 9.2/14)
CBS - "How I Met Your Mother" season premiere (9.2 million, 5.7/9)/"Accidentally on Purpose" series premiere (9 million, 5.7/8)
NBC - "Heroes" season premiere (6.3 million, 3.9/6)
The CW - "One Tree Hill" (2.5 million, 1.7/2)

9:00

ABC - "Dancing with the Stars" (17.6 million, 11.3/17)
FOX - "House" (17.2 million (9.8/14)
CBS - "Two and a Half Men" season premiere (13.6 million, 8.5/12)/"The Big Bang Theory" season premiere (12.8 million, 7.8/11)
NBC - "Heroes" (5.8 million, 3.4/5)
The CW: "Gossip Girl" (2.1 million, 1.4/2)

10:00

CBS - "CSI: Miami" season premiere (13.8 million, 8.7/14)
ABC - "Castle" season premiere (9.4 million, 6.2/10)
NBC - "The Jay Leno Show" (5.7 million, 3.8/6)