Fox wins first night of season: 'Heroes' falls, 'Big Bang' leads CBS

High ratings drama Monday night with a deluge of broadcast network premieres:

>> Fox won the opening night of the fall season for the first time in the network's history. The network aired the two-hour return of "House" (16.5 million viewers, 6.5 preliminary adults 18-49 rating), the medical drama climbing 14% from last year while most of its competitors declined.

>> CBS placed second in the key adult demo with its comedy block and "CSI: Miami" (13.7 million, 4.3). "Miami" was down 17%, though still beat ABC and NBC at 10 p.m. combined. "Big Bang Theory" (12.8 million, 4.6), however, managed to rank as the network's highest-rated show last night. "Big Bang" was in its new time period after "Two and a Half Men" (13.6 million, 4.4) and grew 28% from last year to hit a series high. Leading off the night, "How I Met Your Mother" (9.2 million, 3.5) was off only a tenth from "Big Bang" in the slot last year. New comedy "Accidentally on Purpose" (9 million, 3.2) lost less than 10% of its lead-in and did fairly well considering the intense competition.

>> In third place, ABC aired a two-hour "Dancing With the Stars" (17.5 million, 4.1), down 24% from last fall's premiere and down 33% from its spring edition (Tom Delay is a poor substitute for Melissa Rycroft, it seems). This was the reality competition's lowest-rated premiere yet. The second season debut of "Castle" (9.4 million, 2.3) was soft; on par with "Boston Legal" in the slot last fall, but dipping from its midseason debut. 

>>NBC ranked fourth, it's two-hour "Heroes" premiere (6 million, 2.7) free falling 46% from last year's one-hour opener. "Heroes" didn't face "House" last year, but this is nonetheless a troubling drop. At 10 p.m., "The Jay Leno Show" (5.7 million, 1.8) assumed its third-place position and dipped below a 2.0 for the first time. Though expected, this means "Leno Show" went from being the highest-rated show last Monday among the major broadcast networks to the lowest rated last night.

>> Against significantly increased competition this week, the CW's "One Tree Hill" (2.5 million, 1.2) impressively maintained its premiere rating, but "Gossip Girl" (2.1 million, 1.1) was knocked down 21%.

Analysis:

The big winners here are "House" and "Big Bang Theory" ... Fox hopes that next week's addition of "Lie to Me" will help the network maintain a powerful presence on Mondays this season ... The rest of CBS'  block that took ratings hits could easily improve -- the shows aren't serialized and CBS viewers often check out other networks during premiere week, then loyally wander back to CBS for their Charlie Sheen comfort food. The "Accidentally on Purpose" number gives no hint where this new show is going ... ABC's "Dancing" has dropped with nearly every premiere. That's eventually going to be a problem, but not for a while -- the show is still doing really well ... "Heroes" took a hard hit, and not unexpected considering how dramatically the show's ratings fell last season. NBC adds "Trauma" next week. "Leno Show" is still settling, but this is about where insiders expect the show to be.