ABC's season premiere of The Bachelor spiked 17% from last year to a 2.7 rating among adults 18-49 on Monday, according to Nielsen overnight numbers.
The two-hour debut also rose 23% among total viewers to 8.5 million. Both measures were three-year highs for the longrunning franchise. At 10 p.m. Castle returned to a season-low 1.8, falling 14% from its last original.
Against competition that was mixed with repeats, ABC took first Monday with an overall 2.4 rating/6 share.
Fox took second with a 1.3/3. Almost Human returned up 6% to a 1.7.
CBS, which came in third with a 1.2/3, aired the season finale of Hostages, which fell 17% from its last episode to tie its low of 1.0.
NBC and The CW aired repeats.
