With one of its more-underwhelming casts in recent memory and some of the stiffest competition it has ever faced, ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” was down for its season premiere.
The usually-dominant Monday night show, while strong, came off as somewhat “ordinary” Monday night, delivering a 3.9 adults 18-49 rating with 18.5 million viewers, a decline from some of its most recent season premieres.
Of course, when going against the best-rated “How I Met Your Mother” to date in the 8PM hour and the “Two and a Half Men” premiere at 9PM, a solid performance is still quite nice.
ABC’s 10PM closer “Castle” posted a 3.2 with 12.9 million viewers.
— Over on NBC, “The Sing Off” proved it is best utilized as a winter fill-in. As a fall series, it underwhelmed with just a 1.9 adults 18-49 rating and 5.2 million viewers; it was particularly weak against both “Men” and “Dancing” in the 9PM hour. Lead-out “The Playboy Club” did nothing at 10PM, debuting to a barely-there 1.6 rating with 5.1 million viewers.