Fans tired of summer repeats eagerly welcomed Monday night’s premieres. CW had an impressive comeback while FOX was last night’s winner in the demos. This left NBC and its million dollar suitcases as the victor with the viewers.

8pm

• Approximately 10.9 million saw Deal or No Deal‘s first million dollar winner (2.6/7 in 18-49).
• Prison Break (6.5 million, 2.6/7) was down from last season’s premiere.
• The Big Bang Theory* (4.7 million, 1.5/4) and How I Met Your Mother* (4.7 million, 1.7/5) both slipped by 800,000 since last Monday.
• Gossip Girl‘s debut (3.4 million, 1.7/5) had its best demo performance to date.
• High School Musical: Get in the Picture (2.2 million, 0.7/2) was off tune by 400,000.

9pm

• Two and a Half Men* (7.9 million, 2.5/6 in 18-49) shrunk by 1 million.
• America’s Toughest Jobs (7.3 million, 2.4/6) was down slightly.
• The New Adventures of Old Christine* (6 million, 0.7/2) tumbled by 500,000.
• One Tree Hill (3.1 million, 1.6/4) held on to most of its lead-in.
• A Samantha Who?* hour (2.2 million, 0.7/2) did the same as last week.

10pm

• NBC‘s coverage of Hurricane Gustav (1.6/4 in 18-49) pulled in 5.5 million.
• CBS’ weather special (1.2/3) had 4.1 million watching.
• ABC‘s hour on New Orleans (0.9/2) drew in 3.2 million.

*denotes repeat

(You can review last Monday’s ratings here.)