Nellie Andreeva

Fox (2.6/7 in adults 18-49, 6.2 million viewers) once again topped Monday night with a Gordon Ramsay lineup. After MasterChef wrapped its season last week, the network aired back-to-back originals of Hell’s Kitchen (2.4/7 at 8 PM and 2.7/7 at 9 PM) last night. The 8 PM episode was down a tenth from the fast national rating for last week’s episode (down two tenths from the final), while the 9 PM episode was up 13% from what MasterChef posted in the hour last Monday.

ABC (1.8/5, 5.9 million) was second, paced by a two-hour Bachelor Pad (2.1/6), which is running flat vs. last week, but ABC’s fast nationals are inflated because of local NFL preemptions. Over at NBC, it was corporate synergy — or as Steve Burke prefers to call it, “symphony” — at work as the network aired the third-season finale of G4′s American Ninja Warrior (1.7/4, 4 million) from 9-11 PM. The reality show posted NBC’s best 18-49 rating in the time period in seven weeks, since Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular, but we have to note that the network had not aired any originals in the slot since, just reruns and repurposed episodes of another NBCUniversal cable series, USA’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent. CBS aired reruns.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.