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CBS Eclipses ABC’s New Monday Night Lineup

Jan 10, 2006  •  Post A Comment

Despite a win at 8 p.m. (ET) with its reality series “Wife Swap” and the debut of its heavily promoted new sitcom “Emily’s Reasons Why Not,” ABC took second place to CBS on Monday night in the adults 18 to 49 demographic, total viewers and young women.

Things started out well for ABC with “Swap,” which scored a 4.4 rating in adults 18 to 49, according to Nielsen Media Research. That outperformed all of its network competition for the hour and gave “Swap” its highest performance ever in the demo.

At 9 p.m. the momentum turned CBS’s way. “Two and a Half Men” scored a 5.9 in the demo, outpacing its closest competition, the first half-hour of NBC’s “Las Vegas” (3.9), the first half-hour of a repeat of Fox’s “House” (3.1) and the debut of “Emily’s Reasons” (2.8). Aside from being down 36 percent in adults 18 to 49 from its “Swap” lead-in, ABC’s new sitcom was down 22 percent from the year-ago midseason debut of “The Bachelorette.”

“Emily’s Reasons” was more competitive in women 18 to 34 (3.3), finishing second in the 9 p.m. half-hour to CBS’s “Men,” and in women 18 to 49 (3.7), placing third after “Men” and the first half-hour of “Vegas.”

At 9:30 p.m. the sophomore season premiere of “Jake in Progress” scored a 2.5 in the demo, outperforming its regularly scheduled Thursday night performances last season. But “Jake” still ranked fourth in the time period and was down 11 percent from its lead-in, “Emily’s Reasons.”

At 10 p.m. the return of the reality romance “The Bachelor,” this time set in Paris, was third in the time period in the demo with a 2.7, down 37 percent from its Wednesday night premiere in September 2004. “Bachelor” tied for second in its time period in women 18 to 34 (3.8) and came in third at 10 p.m. in women 18 to 49 (4.0).