Nellie Andreeva

This was supposed to be Fox’s strong baseball postseason year as it’s the network’s turn to carry the American League Championship Series, a big audience draw with marquee teams the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. But both the Yankees and Red Sox were eliminated early, and now the ALCS has been hit with bad weather. Game 2 was rained out Sunday, leaving Fox scrambling to fill primetime with repeats at the last minute. And then a 52-minute overrun from the rescheduled Game 2 wreaked havoc on the network’s Monday primetime lineup, with both rookie Terra Nova and veteran House significantly impacted. The currently available non-time-zone-adjusted fast nationals for 9-10 PM (2.6/6), where most of Terra Nova aired, and 10-11 PM (2.3/6), where the bulk of House ran, are both expected to rise in the finals.

It was a rough night all around as the broadcast networks had to deal with baseball overrun as well as a strong Monday Night Football game on ESPN, where the Chicago Bears vs. Detroit Lions posted a 11.3 metered market average, the second-best rating so far this season. ABC’s Dancing With The Stars (3.1/8, 17 million total viewers) was flat with last week but may end up being down in the finals. ABC’s fast nationals were possibly inflated as the network’s Detroit station carried the football game. That doesn’t bode well for Castle (2.4/6, 10.2 million), which currently runs 8% below its fast national from last Monday. ABC (2.9/7, 15.1 million) seems on track to top the night in total viewers, while CBS (3.9/9, 11.1 million) is projected to win in 18-49.

It was across-the-board declines on CBS, where all series hit season lows. How I Met Your Mother (3.9/11, 8.9 million) was down 13% in the demo, and 2 Broke Girls (4.2/10, 10.6 million) was down a modest 5% from its 18-49 fast national last week and built on its lead-in. Two And A Half Men (5.8/13, 15.9 million) was also down 5% from its fast national last Monday, while Mike & Molly (4.0/9, 11.8 million) was down 7%. Male-skewing Hawaii Five-0 (2.6/6, 9.7 million) suffered the steepest decline, 19%, but still won the 10 PM hour among 18-49. For now, it is running behind Castle in total viewers, but the standings can change in the finals.

Topping Hawaii Five-0 for the biggest week-to-week decline was NBC’s struggling singing competition The Sing-Off (1.4/4), which was down 22% for a series low. It was followed by a Prime Suspect repeat (0.7/2). The CW dramas were also down: Hart Of Dixie (0.6/1 in 18-49) fell 25%, Gossip Girl (0.6/2) was down 14%.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.