Ratings: Huge Gains for Biggest Loser, Scrubs-on-ABC

The Nielsens this week have experienced delays, so I just had two days' worth of data dumped on my desk. Here are selected highlights: Monday • Fox's coverage of the Fiesta Bowl dominated the night with 16 million total viewers. • NBC's Superstars of Dance (9.59 million) dropped 615K from its Sunday bow. • The arrival of ABC's new Bachelor averaged 8.7 mil, barely grabbing third at 8 pm/ET and dropping to No. 4 come 9 o'clock. • Gossip Girl (2.94 mil) more or less matched its most recent audience, while One Tree Hill (2.63 mil) enjoyed a gain of 420 thou. • ABC's True Beauty debuted to 7.64 mil, placing a distant second behind a CSI: Miami repeat. Tuesday • NCIS netted 19.07 million viewers, its second-largest audience ever (trailing only this past Dec. 16). That set up The Mentalist for yet another series high, 19.56 mil. • The Biggest Loser: Couples debuted to 11.82 mil, the series' biggest premiere ever and a 51 percent increase over the Families opener. • The ABC premiere of Scrubs averaged 6.7 mil across two episodes — a 25 percent improvement upon the sitcom's NBC send-off. • Both 90210 (2.78 mil) and Privileged (1.74 mil) dipped 150K. • Without a Trace scored 13.2 mil, down 1.5 mil from its last fresh episode (which delivered a season high). SVU (10.65 mil) slipped 250 thou.