DANCING WITH THE STARS - ABC IS STARRY EYED AGAIN

The two-hour return of Dancing With the Stars boosted ABC into the lead Monday night as the first hour recorded a resounding 14.5 rating and a 22 share, shellacking NBC's usual winner in the hour, Deal or No Deal, which recorded an 8.2/13. At 9:00 p.m., ratings for Dancing rose to a 15.8/23 (peaking at 9:30 p.m. with a 16.0/23, representing 23.24 million viewers), while a second hour of Deal drew a 9.2/14. However, ABC's audience fled at 10:00 p.m. as ratings for What About Brian came in at a so-so 5.2/6, while CBS gained the lead with CSI: Miami, which pulled an 11.5/19. NBC continued to languish in that timeslot, drawing a meager 4.1/7 for The Black Donnellys. Meanwhile Nielsen reported Monday that CBS averaged a 5.8/13 for the first four days of its coverage of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, up 4 percent from its average for the same period a year ago.

20/03/2007