Primetime Ratings: LSU Beats Ohio State; Fox Beats Big Three

BCS Championship Game Dominates Monday Night

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/8/2008 12:56:00 PM

Fox dominated the ratings Monday night with its coverage of LSU's defeat of Ohio State in the BCS college-football-championship game. But NBC's second outing for American Gladiators held up well against that football offensive.

Fox averaged a 7.6 rating/18 share in the 18-49 demo, according to Nielsen Media Research overnight numbers (which could change slightly when the final numbers come in, but likely only to boost that number).

NBC was second on the night with a 3.9/9, led by Gladiators, which averaged a 4.2/10 from 8 p.m.-9 p.m. for second place behind the game.

CBS edged ABC for third with a 2.7/7 in the demo, led by a repeat of Two and a Half Men with a 3.9/9.

ABC, which averaged a 2.6/6, didn't get much pop from its premiere of Dance War, which features teams of dancers assembled by two of the judges from its Dancing with the Stars reality hit. The two-hour debut averaged a 3/7 for third place in its 8 p.m.-10 p.m. time period, although admittedly against some tough competition. The good news was that it built from a 2.8/7 in its first half-hour to a 3.2/7 in its last, but at least one of those half-hours saw it beaten handily by the Two and a Half Men rerun (3.9 rating to a 3 for Dance War).

The CW was fifth with a 0.7/2, led by Everybody Hates Chris (0.9/2).