Although Dance War came nowhere near Dancing With The Stars numbers, the premiere episode (barely) surpassed the second Gladiators episode in viewers.

8pm

• FOX was the night’s most watched network.  Its BCS football coverage drew 21.6 million viewers (7.6/18 in 18-49) for the evening.
• Approximately 11 million watched the debut of Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann (3.0/7).
• American Gladiators (10.91 million, 4.8/12) beat the ABC show in the demos.
• How I Met Your Mother* (2.0/5) scored 6.18 million; The Big Bang Theory* (2.2/5) pulled in 6.36 million.
• Everybody Hates Chris* (0.9/2) turned in 2.18 million while Aliens in America* (0.6/1) coughed up 1.53 million.

9pm

• More people watched Two and a Half Men* (11.6 million, 3.9/9 in 18-49) than the original shows.
• Deal or No Deal (3.6/8) sucked in 10.7 million.
• Rules of Engagement* (8.1 million, 2.8/6) lost part of its lead-in.
• Girlfriends* (0.6/1) attracted 1.41 million; The Game* (0.7/2) did only slightly better with 1.61 million.

10pm

• The season premiere of Medium (3.3/8 in 18-49) lured in 9.6 million.
• CSI: Miami* (9.14 million, 1.8/5) came in a close second.
• October Road (5 million 1.8/4) lost about 680,000 from its last original episode.

*denotes repeat