Nellie Andreeva

CBS and NBC had the 8-10 PM time period pretty much all to themselves last night, with ABC and Fox largely out of contention. Fox aired the inaugural American Country Awards, which flopped with a 1.5/4 rating among adults 18-49 and 6 million viewers overall.  For comparison, the 44th Annual Country Music Association Awards on ABC drew a 4.7/13 in 18-49 and 16.5 million viewers last month, and the Academy of Country Music Awards on CBS averaged a 3.2/8, 13.1 million in April. Meanwhile, ABC’s  Dancing with the Stars spinoff Skating with the Stars (1.0/3, 4.8 million) shed another 17% week-to-week in its third airing for a new low. Following a Modern Family rerun, which aired after the 90-minute Skating, ABC’s Castle (2.2/6) was down 12% from its last original on Nov. 15 for a season low.

NBC took advantage of the weakened competition. The 8-10 PM season premiere of reality series The Sing-Off (2.8/7) was up 22% from the show’s series premiere last year for a series high. Despite having a stronger lead-in than its regular one, The Event, freshman Chase (1.5/4), whose order was recently reduced from 22 to 18 episodes, was down 6% from last week.

It was a mixed bag for CBS. How I Met Your Mother (3.6/10, 9.4 million) and Rules of Engagement (3.1/8, 8.8 million) were up, by 3% and 7%, respectively. But Two and a Half Men (4.1/10, 13.3 million), Mike & Molly (3.4/8) and Hawaii Five-0 (2.7/7), 10.3 million) were all down, by 9%, 15% and 18%, respectively, to hit a season low (Men) and series lows (Molly and Hawaii). CBS still easily won the night in 18-49 and total viewers and dominated every every half-hour in both categories.

Also benefiting from the weakened 8-10 PM competition was the CW, which posted its most watched Monday of the season (2.1 million viewers), with both Gossip Girl and 90210 hitting season highs in total viewers and matching their season highs in 18-49.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.