"American Gladiators" continued to flex its ratings muscle on Monday night, debuting in its regular time period as the night's #1 non-sports telecast in primetime's key demographic of adults 18-49, according to updated "live plus same day" viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research.

Monday, the regular time period debut of "American Gladiators" (4.8 rating, 12 share in adults 18-49, 10.9 million viewers overall) nailed NBC's highest 18-49 rating in this time period in 10 months (since March 5, 2007). In total viewers, "Gladiators" attracted NBC's biggest audience in the slot with regularly scheduled programming since June 18, 2007.

"American Gladiators" was the dominant non-sports program in the hour in adults 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 and all key adult-male demos, topping all competition in the hour in these key demos with the exception of Fox's strong Bowl Championship Series final game. "American Gladiators" also topped the debut of ABC's "Dance Wars" in nearly all key demographics, including women 18-34 and women 18-49, in the hour.

Despite extraordinary competition, especially for young male viewers from Fox's BCS football, "American Gladiators" surged by a full rating point, or 23 percent, in adults 18-49 from half-hour to half-hour (to a 5.3/12 from a 4.3/11) and increased its total viewership by 1.8 million persons or 18 percent (to 11.8 million from 10.0 million). In its final half-hour from 8:30-9 p.m., "American Gladiators" topped the debut of "Dance Wars" in total viewers, adults, men and women 18-34, adults, men and women 18-49 and adults and men 25-54.

At 9 p.m. ET, "Deal or No Deal" (3.6/8 in 18-49, 10.7 million viewers overall) was the #1 non-sports program in the hour in adults 18-49 and other key demographics.

At 10 p.m. ET, the fourth-season premiere of "Medium" (3.3/8 in 18-49, 9.6 million viewers overall) was the time period's #1 non-sports program in adults 18-49, total viewers and other key measures, topping CBS's "CSI: Miami" encore and ABC's first-run "October Road."

"Medium" summoned NBC's best 18-49 rating in this time period in three months (since October 1, 2007) and highest total viewership for regular programming in the slot in more than six months (since June 18, 2007). By both measures, this marks the best performance for "Medium" since Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007.

"Medium" posted a 43 percent increase in adults 18-49 versus NBC's season-to-date average for this time period (3.3 vs. 2.3, "live plus same day" season average all programs)

Updated 18-49 averages for Monday night are: Fox, 7.9/20; NBC, 3.9/9; CBS, 2.7/7; ABC, 2.6/6; CW, 0.7/2. In overall total viewers, January 7 updated results are: Fox, 22.6 million; NBC, 10.4 million; ABC, 9.0 million; CBS, 8.2 million; CW, 1.7 million.

Note that all national ratings are "live plus same day" unless otherwise indicated.

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