The CWStorylines may be heating up on Gossip Girl, but the ratings aren't.
Last night's episode scored 2.2 million viewers, per preliminary Nielsen estimates. It wasn't so much that the 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 a 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 was.
• 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.