Ratings Catch-Up: Cold Case Heats Up, Castle Builds

The Nielsen ratings reporting system is fixed, following a several-day glitch which kept the networks (as well as moi) in the dark.

Now we can bring you highlights from the start of the week; Tuesday and Wednesday's numbers will trickle in over the next day or so.

SUNDAY

9 pm
Desperate Housewives won the 9 o'clock hour with an audience of 13.48 million total viewers, flat week-to-week. The penultimate episode of Cold Case's sixth season drew 12.46 mil, surging 19 percent to deliver its biggest draw since March 15. The Apprentice gained 510K, hitting 8.68 mil.

10 pm
Climbing 12 percent to seize its largest audience in seven weeks, The Unit bested Brothers & Sisters — 9.97 million viewers to 9.11 mil.

MONDAY

8 pm
Dancing with the Stars averaged 20.28 million viewers over its two-hour run, up 6 percent week-to-week. House scored second with 12.05 mil, up 690K. Big Bang Theory (9.25 mil) and Mother (8.89 mil) matched previous tallies.

Deal or No Deal returned to an audience of 4.36 mil — or 29 percent fewer viewers than Chuck pulled. Put that in your foot long and smoke it! Gossip Girl (2.22 mil) gained 200 thou.

9 pm
Two and a Half Men (14.17 mil) and Rules of Engagement (11.33 mil) held steady, while 24 (10.11 mil) turned 450 thou fewer head(butt)s. Medium averaged 7.24 mil over its back-to-back episodes, up 520K. One Tree Hill tallied a typical 2.23 mil.

10 pm
CSI: Miami topped the hour with 13.72 mil, surging 15 percent. Gaining DWTS as a direct lead-in, Castle soared 19 percent to flirt with 10 mil.

Crave scoop on your favorite TV shows? E-mail senior editors Matt, Mickey and Tim at mega_scoop@tvguide.com.