Storylines may be heating up on Gossip Girl, the ratings aren't.
Last night's episode scored 2.2 million viewers, per preliminary Nielsen estimates. It wasn't so much that show was down a tick from last week's so-so return, it's that it was down a lot (19 percent) among Chuck-following young women, and seemed to cede some of its female fans to the other Chuck, the struggling NBC series.
Elsewhere:
• Dancing With the Stars (20.2 million) was as big as Lil' Kim's samba, but still down about 1 million viewers from last week.
• Heroes (6.5 million) tinkered and tried and flew—and fell to a new all-time low.
• 24 (10.3 million) apparently suffered from bad case of a House rerun as a lead-in.
• One Tree Hill (2.3 million) mobilized the Chad Michael Murray army and/or didn't have to face a new Two and a Half Men. In any case, the show was stronger among young women than Gossip Girl.
• Castle (9.8 million) slumped; Medium (6.6 million) slumped worse. Chuck (6.1 million) should have stolen more Gossip Girl fans. CSI: Miami (13.5 million) was the night's top scripted series.