Ratings: Terra Nova Stands on Terra Firma; House in Good Condition

Terra Nova, which didn't exactly debut with dinosaur-sized (or even Dinah Shore-sized) numbers, still stood on terra firma with 8.31 million viewers, down about 8 percent from its debut, Nielsen overnight data shows. Fox's sci-fi thriller also matched its 3.1 rating among 18-to-49-year-olds for its premiere.

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TheHouse Season 8 premiere that followed Terra Nova on Fox got 9.77 million people, posting a 3.9 in the advertiser-coveted age group — down just 9 percent and 7 percent from its fall 2010 start when it aired at 8/7c instead of 9/8c.

Against Nova in prime time's first hour Monday, 2 Broke Girlssustained its status as the season's most popular new sitcom, attracting 11.37 million people and a 4.4 demo rating (vs. last week's 11.58 million/4.5) in its second week inits usual timeslot (8:30/7:30c). Preceding it, How I Met Your Mother lured 10.50 million fans (4.5).Dancing with the Starsaveraged 16.50 million (3.1 rating), while NBC's The Sing-Offentertained 4.88 million (1.8 rating) over two hours. Gossip Girl, which last week suffered a 20 percent decline compared with last year's debut, grabbed 1.45 million (0.7) — up slightly in viewership but down slightly in the demo.

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While posting big numbers, the Ashton Kutcher-led Two and a Half Men trended downward again after its huge start, bringing back 17.28 million people and a 6.1 demo rating (compared with 20.03 million/7.2 in Week 2 and 28.74 million/10.7 in Week 1) at 9/8c. Following Men, Mike & Mollylured 13.24 million (4.3) — a small drop-off from last week (13.98 million/4.9 for its Season 2 premiere). The second episode of The CW's Hart of Dixie matched the viewership and demo rating from of its opener:1.78 million and a 0.8.

In prime time's final hour, NBC's The Playboy Clubgave up the keys to the place with 3.39 million and a 1.2 in the demo — numbers that made it the first cancellation of the 2011-12 TV season Tuesday. ABC's Castle again nabbed the most viewers in the slot — 11.59 million viewers (2.9) — vs. CBS' Hawaii Five-0 (10.88, 3.2).

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Ratings for the second full week of the 2011-12 TV season that came out Tuesday showed Two and a Half Men again atop the pile with NCIS at No. 2 and Sunday Night Football third. Plus: Person of Interest crept ahead of Unforgettableto become the most popular new network drama at No. 13.