Quick Take for Monday, October 27, 2008 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings)

ABC is Monday's Most-Watched Net for the 6th Week in a Row, Outdrawing Fox's Coverage of the World Series Game 5

"Dancing with the Stars" Is Monday's Most-Watched TV Program for the 6th Consecutive Week, Posting Multi-Week Highs in Viewers & Young Adults

"Samantha Who?" Is Up Week to Week in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, While Leading its Half-Hour for the 3rd Consecutive Week in Key Women

Drawing its Largest Audience Since April, "Boston Legal" Beats "My Own Worst Enemy" for the 3rd Straight Week by a Season-Best 3.8 Million Viewers

Monday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)

Standing as the night's most-watched network for the 6th week in a row, ABC's Monday lineup was up over the previous week by 4% in Total Viewers (14.3 million vs. 13.7 million) and by 6% in Adults 18-49 (3.4/8 vs. 3.2/8). Among Adults 18-49, ABC beat CBS by 10% (3.1/8) and NBC by 17% (2.9/7).

"Dancing with the Stars" (8:00-9:30 p.m.)

Monday's most-watched program for the 6th time in as many weeks, ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" saw week-to-week increases in both Total Viewers (18.8 million vs. 18.5 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.2/10 vs. 4.1/10). In fact, "DWTS" drew is largest audience in 4 weeks (since 9/29/08) and best young adult rating in 3 weeks (since 10/06/08). "DWTS" ranked as Monday's No. 1 broadcast program among Adults 18-49 and the night's top program overall among Women 18-49 (6.0/14) and Adults 25-54 (5.4/12).

"Samantha Who?" (9:30-10:00 p.m.)

ABC's "Samantha Who?" was up over the prior week in both Total Viewers (11.4 million vs. 9.6 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.0/7 vs. 2.7/6). For the 3rd week in a row, the ABC sitcom won its half-hour among Women18-49 (4.5/10) and Women 25-54 (5.6/11).

"Boston Legal" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)

Building on the previous week's performance in both Total Viewers (9.1 million vs. 8.1 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.3/6 vs. 2.1/5), ABC's "Boston Legal" logged its largest audience of the season and highest Adult 18-49 rating since its season premiere. In fact, the ABC drama turned in its highest Total Viewer count in 6 months - since 4/22/08. "Boston Legal" defeated NBC's "My Own Worst Enemy" for the 3rd week running by a season best 3.8 million viewers (9.1 million vs. 5.3 million). Additionally, the ABC drama beat the NBC series among Women 18-49 (3.1/7 vs. 2.3/6) and Adults 25-54 (3.1/7 vs. 2.6/6) for the second week in a row.

A note about increasing DVR penetration and year-to-year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating comparisons based on the Live + Same Day data stream are distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has jumped up to 28% currently, from 20% at the same point in 2007. More viewers are watching shows on their own timetables, which may not be reflected in the overnight next day numbers. The only truly valid year-to-year comparison would be one based on the Live + 7 Day metric, once those stats are released by Nielsen.

Source: Nielsen Media Research (Fast Affiliate, Live + Same Day Ratings), 10/27/08.