ABCMonday TV's Big Loser: Jason Mesnick. While the Bachelor was continuing the apology tour, the dumpee, Melissa Rycroft, was waltzing through the most-watched season premiere of Dancing With the Stars (22.5 million viewers, per preliminary Nielsen data).
Coincidence? Dancing viewership peaked in the two-hour show's final 30 minutes, when about 24 million finally got to see Rycroft strut her stuff with partner Tony Dovolani.
The Melissa Effect, Part 1: Up against Dancing in the 8 o'clock hour, Big Bang Theory (9.5 million) and How I Met Your Mother (8.5 million) were solid, but down from last week. Chuck (5.7 million) was toast. House (12.1 million) was alone in improving upon its season average.
The Melissa Effect, Part 2: At 9 p.m., Two and a Half Men (13.3 million) and Rules of Engagement (10 million) held well, even as they slipped. 24 (11.3 million) was up a tick over last week's two-hour special. And Heroes…well…
Heroes Watch: Let's just say that that network renewal announcement came just in time to head off speculation about what last night's least-watched episode ever (6.6 million) would mean for the show's future.
A Firefly Takes Flight: Nathan Fillion may have finally found himself something larger than a cult audience. In the post-Dancing slot at 10 p.m., Fillion's premiering Castle (11.6 million) improved on Boston Legal's performance from last fall and didn't get embarrassed even as it got beat by CSI: Miami (14.1 million).