Nellie Andreeva

David E. Kelley’s new legal drama Harry’s Law (2.1/6 in 18-49, 10.6 million) held up well in its second week, down only a tenth from last week’s premiere to score the best Week 1-to-Week 2 retention for a new drama this season. It was also the highest-rated NBC show in 18-49 and total viewers for a second consecutive Monday. And for a second consecutive Monday, there was an asterisk to Harry’s Law solid performance. Both weeks it aired against a mixed original-repeat competition. Last Monday, it was a first-run Hawaii Five-0 and a rerun Castle, last night, it was the other way around. It wasn’t any Castle episode but the heavily promoted one with Beckett and Castle’s first kiss, so there was nothing shabby about Harry’s Law‘s performance as the show finished No.1 in viewers and No.2 in 18-49 in the slot for a second consecutive week. And the lighter competition may have helped the new NBC drama to establish itself and position it better for the first face-off against original Hawaii Five-0 and Castle. Harry’s Law lead-in, fellow midseason drama The Cape (1.6/4) was down two tenths, or 11%, from last week, while Chuck (2.0/5) at 8 PM matched its fast national rating from last week.

ABC’s Castle (2.4/7, 9.1 million) got a “kiss” boost, up 14% from its most recent original on Jan. 10, while the network’s The Bachelor (2.8/7) was up 4% from last week. With CBS’ comedies in repeats and no football competition on ESPN, Fox’s lineup was up. House (3.7/10) was up 6% to rank as the the highest-rated program of the night in 18-49, while Lie to Me (2.5/6) was up a whopping 39% from last week to post its highest demo rating in more than a year. For the night, Fox (3.1/8, 9.1 million) was No.1 in 18-49, while ABC (2.7/7, 9.2 million) prevailed in total viewers. With all-repeats, CBS (2.2/6, 8 million) still beat all-original NBC (1.9/5, 7.5 million).

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.