Ratings Chart Attack!

CBS’ comedies returned strong Monday night, giving the network a slight edge to take the top spot, while NBC dramas saw a solid bounce throughout the lineup.

After being bumped by NCAA March Madness coverage, CBS’ comedies kicked off with a new episode of “The Big Bang Theory,” bowing with a 3.8 rating/11 share among adults 18-49 and 10.1 million viewers, according to preliminary Nielsen figures. “How I Met Your Mother” came in with a 4.0/11 (9.6 million). “Two and a Half Men” (5.2/13, 14.8 million) was the top program of the night. “Rules of Engagement” (4.0/10, 11.6 million) and “CSI: Miami” (3.8/10, 13.3 million) wrapped up the night for the network.

On NBC, “Chuck” (2.3/6, 6.2 million) scored its best rating in six weeks, posting a 10% increase over last week’s episode. (Did the fans have something to do with the spike?) “Heroes” (3.2/8, 6.8 million) was up a solid 23% from last week to its best rating in five weeks. “Medium” (2.7/7, 7.6 million) carried that momentum through to post a 23% increase, recording its best rating in eight weeks.

Fox held on strong with a new episode of “House” (4.5/12, 11.8 million), down 12% from last week’s much-hyped episode. At 9 p.m. “24” (3.6/9, 10.8 million) was down only 5% from last week.

ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” (4.4/12, 19.1 million) was the most-watched show of the night, but it continues to lose steam, posting weekly losses in the demo for the fifth consecutive week. Last night’s performance episode was down a slight 4% from last week. At 9:30 p.m., the second episode of “Surviving Suburbia” (2.8/7, 10.7 million) was down by similar numbers, posting a 7% dip from last week. At 10 p.m., “Castle” (2.0/5, 7.6 million) posted its lowest rating this season.

The CW aired repeats of “Gossip Girl” and “One Tree Hill.”

For the night: CBS placed first (4.1/11, 12.1 million), followed closely by Fox (4.0/10, 11.3 million), then ABC (3.4/9, 13.9 million), NBC (2.7/7, 6.9 million) and The CW (0.4/1, 1 million). (Update: CBS and Fox tied for No. 1 in the final numbers with a 4.1/11.)

(Updated: 4:10 p.m.)