The Oscars are done, awards season is over and it is back to normal for the television schedule. Monday’s haven’t been much affected but there some shifts last night – at least ratingswise. How I Met Your Mother (3.4/10) started the night for CBS. The top show among the 18-49 demo last night for the first time this season, the comedy was flat with last week’s show. Following Mother, Rules of Engagement (2.6/7) was down 10% from its February 19 show while 2 Broke Girls slipped 9%. That was a season low for the former and a matching series low for the latter. Mike & Molly (2.7/7) took a southward turn as well. Falling 16% from last week, the comedy also hit a season low. CBS ended the night with a Hawaii Five-O (1.4/4) encore.

For ABC and NBC on a Monday, it was head-to-head reality. It was down to the final two contestants on last night’s two-hour The Bachelor (2.9/8).  Heading towards its 17th season finale on March 11, the ABC reality series dipped a slight 3% from last week’s show. Also on from 8 PM to 10 PM, NBC’s two-hour The Biggest Loser (2.1/6) on Monday saw the six remaining contestants thrown into a “Face Your Fears” contest. One of the two ratings jewels (along with The Office) in NBC’s current tarnished crown, last night’s Biggest Loser stayed up from its Season 14 low of two weeks ago to remain even with its February 19 show. For the second Monday in a row, ABC won the night in both total viewers (9.643 million) and among Adults 18-49.

Freshman soap Deception (1.2/3) followed The Biggest Loser on NBC. Continuing its two-week flat streak, the series was even with its February 19 show. The second of a two-part episode of ABC’s Castle (2.3/6) was also even with last week. With 10.69 million viewers, the series was the most watched show of the night and matched the key demo season high of last week’s show. On Fox, Bones (2.3/6) saw a 5% rise from its February 19 show and slight upward turn in total viewers to 8.7 million from 8.5 million. The Following (2.7/7) went the other direction. The fluctuating newbie dipped 4% from last week’s recovery from the previous week’s season low. The Kevin Bacon vehicle was the highest-rated drama of the night among the key 18-49 demo. The CW’s The Carrie Diaries (0.5/1) and 90210 (0.3/1) were both up a tenth from last week. 

Deadline's Dominic Patten - tip him here.