Monday's ratings round-up:
8 pm/ET
The two-hour season finale of The Bachelor: Flip-Flop Edition was the night's most watched program, averaging 15.45 million total viewers — the series' best audience since Bob chose Estella in November 2003. CBS' sitcombo secured second, with Big Bang Theory holding steady at 10.94 mil and How I Met Your Mother delivering 11.08 mil.
24's White House siege averaged 11.1 mil over its two-hour run, and gained viewers each half hour. Chuck (6.6 mil) inched up a bit from last week's all-time low.
9 pm
Two and a Half Men trailed The Bachelor with 15.42 million viewers (up 500K from its last fresh outing), while lead-out Rules of Engagement returned to 11.86 mil, which was good for third in its time slot. Heroes matched last week's 7 mil.
10 pm
Proving that car-crash television can work, The Bachelor: After the Rose drew its largest audience ever — 17.5 million viewers. CSI: Miami settled for second with 13.3 mil, down 400 thou. Medium took a big hit, slipping 14 percent to 7.28 mil.
Late Night
The premiere of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon gave NBC its highest-rated Monday Late Night in more than three years (since Jan. 16, 2006). It also bested CBS' Late Late Show and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel by margins of 35 percent and 17 percent, respectively.
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Relationships are never easy, especially for the guys and gals of Rules of Engagement. TVGuide.com caught up with Patrick Warburton — who plays married man Jeff — to get the scoop on what we can expect from the couples in the new season (premieres March 2 at 9:30 pm/ET on CBS), and what David Spade is like when the cameras are off.
TVGuide.com: What can we expect for this upcoming season?
Patrick Warburton: [Jeff] ends up with a new buddy who is gay, unbeknownst to him, so he has to kind of deal with that. He's played by Orlando Jones, who was fun to work with and a good guy. We also have a new character. His name is Timmy and he's the assistant to Russell. He's very refined and witty and sharp and classy and Spade is on the other end of that spectrum, so you put the two of them together and there's just a great humor and chemistry. So we've opened up the show a little bit.
TVGuide.com: What do you think of Jeff and Audrey's relationship as far as getting under each other's skin?
Warburton: Jeff and Audrey can say horrible things to each other, but it comes from a place where they love and respect each other. Jeff's not a total gripe either. He's also attracted to his wife and that's ...
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CBS has set a Monday, March 2, premiere date for the third season of Rules of Engagement.
Starring Patrick Warburton, Megyn Price, Oliver Hudson, Bianca Kajlich and David Spade, the sitcom last season averaged nearly 11 million viewers. Once again, it will air Mondays at ...
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David Spade is now the proud papa of a baby girl born last week in Missouri to Playboy Playmate Jillian Grace.Spade's rep told People , "David and Jillian have been in close contact throughout her pregnancy and he plans to go see the baby during his first break from shooting Rules of Engagement."Spade, who only had a brief relationship with Grace, said back in January that if he was proven to be the baby's father, he would accept responsibility. No word if that means financial support solely or if he wants to be a part of the child's life (or if being a part of her daddy's life means helping him with his stand-up sets). No other details, including the baby's name, were released. — Erin Fox
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Brian Dennehy, a silver-screen vet and six-time Emmy nominee, is bringing his acting chops — and perhaps some savory lamb chops, as well! — to CBS' Rules of Engagement, TVGuide.com has learned exclusively.In one of the sitcom's first Season 3 episodes, Dennehy will guest-star as the father of Patrick Warburton's Jeff. The verbal jabs fly between Jeff's wife, Audrey, and her father-in-law, whose alpha-male antics, unbridled love for meat and blatant chauvinism make his sometimes-gruff son look positively refined.Dennehy's big-screen resume includes the tracking and capture of one John Rambo (in First Blood) and F/X. He won a Golden Globe for the TV presentation of the Arthur Miller classic Death of a Salesman. CBS' Rules returns midseason. — Matt MitovichCrave scoop? E-mail Matt and Mickey at mega_scoop@tvguide.com.
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