ABC's strong finale of "The Bachelor" led the network to a solid win Monday night, making a noticeable dent in the competition.

The two-hour "Bachelor" finale scored a 5.4 rating/13 share among viewers 18-49 and 15.5 million average viewers, according to preliminary Nielsen Media Research information. Last night's episode was the highest rated since the show's May 2004 finale and its most watched since the November 2003 season ender. "Bachelor" increased every half-hour, starting with a 4.5/11 at 8 p.m. and wrapping up with a 6.3/14 in the 9:30 p.m. timeslot. In the 10 p.m. hour, the "After the Final Rose" (6.7/16, 17.5 million) special was the highest rated and most watched of any "Rose" post-show special (part two airs tonight). ABC topped Monday with a 5.8/14 and 16.1 million viewers.

Against the "Bachelor" finale, CBS' comedies were in line with previous season-to-date averages. At 9:30 p.m. the season premiere of "Rules of Engagement" returned off a bit from its previous 4.1/9 season average in the slot, but improved on "Worst Week's" previous timeslot average by 39%. A new "CSI: Miami" was down 7% from its previous season average. The network finished the night in second place with a 4.1/10 (12.7 million).

Fox finished third with back-to-back episodes of "24," averaging a 3.3/8 (11.1 million) for the night. Both hours were down compared with last week's episode, which came in with a 3.8/9.

NBC's "Chuck" held on strong against "Bachelor's" onslaught, staying about average with previous performances and reaching its highest rating in three weeks. Against stronger competition, however, "Heroes" hit a new series low and "Medium" matched a previous series low. The network wrapped up with an average 2.7/6 (7 million).

The CW averaged a 0.5/1 (1.1 million) with repeats. The network pulled in a 0.7/2 among women 18-34.

	8	8:30	9	9:30	10	10:30
5.8 / 14	The Bachelor 5.4 / 13 15.5 million				Bachelor: After the Final Rose, Part 1 6.7 / 16 17.5 million
4.1 / 10	The Big Bang Theory 3.9 / 10 10.9 mil	How I Met Your Mother 4.2 / 10 11.1 mil	Two and a Half Men 4.9 / 11 15.4 mil	Rules of Engagement 3.9 / 9 11.9 mil	CSI: Miami 3.8 / 9 13.3 mil
3.3 / 8	24 3.1 / 8 10.4 mil		24 3.5 / 8 11.8 mil		No Programming
2.7 / 6	Chuck 2.4 / 6 6.6 mil		Heroes 3.2 / 7 7 mil		Medium 2.4 / 6 7.3 mil
0.5 / 1	Gossip Girl 0.5 / 1 1.1 mil		One Tree Hill 0.5 / 1 1 mil		No Programming

Source: Nielsen Media Research

*Ratings are specified in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic and viewership in P2+.

A note about ratings: Ratings are expressed as percentages of Nielsen's estimated 114.5 million U.S. television households. The first number, the rating, is a percentage of households tuned into a specific program at a specific time.

The second number, the share, is a percentage of households with televisions in use tuned into that same program. For example, if a show obtains a 10.2/16, this means that 10.2% of all U.S. households tuned into the program at some point during the broadcast. Meanwhile, 16% of all households watching television during the time period viewed the program at some point. Ratings are broken down further by demographic, as networks sell advertising time based on the makeup of the audience.