New Shows And 'Heroes' Have Strong Premieres

The second season premiere of one of NBC's signature shows earned an 8.1 rating/12 share for the 9 p.m. hour, according to Fast National ratings from Nielsen Media Research, losing out to the conclusion of ABC's "Dancing With The Stars," but handedly beating the premiere of "The Bachelor" that followed. Those shows earned a 13.7/20 and a 7.2/11 respectively.

The sci-fi package for NBC was obviously anchored by "Heroes," with its lead-in "Chuck" and lead-out "Journeyman" picking up significantly smaller audiences. "Chuck" tied the CBS comedy block of "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Big Bang Theory" with a 6.0/9 for second place, but maintained more viewers in the key 18 to 49 age demographic, according to Zap2it. All those shows lost out to the first hour of "Dancing," which had a 13.4/21.

"Journeyman" posted similar numbers, a 5.9/10 in the 10 p.m. hour, finishing behind "CSI: Miami" on CBS and "The Bachelor."

For the night, it was a tight race in getting that younger audience with ABC just nipping NBC in the 18 to 49 demographic by one-tenth of a ratings point.

When it came to overall viewers, however, it was ABC in the driver's seat with a 10.1/15 followed by CBS with a 7.9/12 and NBC with a 6.6/10. Fox was fourth with a 4.4/7.

Fast Nationals usually provide a snapshot of what Americans are watching by pulling numbers from the top urban markets that includes both live viewing and same-day timeshifted viewing. A rating point generally represents more than 1.1 million households while the share indicates the percentage of televisions turned on that was tuned to the specific program. These numbers typically shift when final ratings are issued.

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