Ratings: 'Chuck' delivers for NBC, but CBS still rules Monday

CBS’ Monday night lineup just keeps getting stronger with all of its comedy series breaking respective ratings records, according to preliminary overnight numbers. Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother both hit 11.4 million during the 8 p.m. hour; that’s Theory’s best ratings ever and HIMYM‘s best audience since January 2006. Two and a Half Men, meanwhile, also had a blockbuster night with a whopping 17.9 million viewers, its best since 2005. And the charming Worst Week benefited from its Men lead-in with its series-best numbers (12.1 million).

Good news for fans of NBC’s Chuck: Last night’s holiday-themed episode (featuring Cliffhanger‘s Michael Rooker!) nabbed a solid 7.6 million viewers. For those keeping track, that’s a 600,000 boost from the previous week’s outing. Heroes closed out its first half of the season with 7.8 million, the same as last week. And the sad My Own Worst Enemy ended the evening with a paltry 4.1 million eyes.

ABC re-aired I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown which only managed 7.4 million viewers, down from last week’s airing of the more iconic A Charlie Brown Christmas, which reached 4 million more fans. At 9 p.m., the two-hour special, Drama High: The Making of a High School Musical, bombed with an average of only 3.7 million.

Over on Fox, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles improved slightly over last week’s 5.2 million with 5.3 million, while Prison Break declined slightly to 5.7 million.

The CW struggled, with repeats of Gossip Girl (1.7 million) and One Tree Hill (1.1) providing no competition.

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