Ratings rivals CBS and ABC have been slugging it out this fall, each trying to jockey for the top slot in the ratings race. CSI dominance usually secures CBS at least one top ten ratings win, but this year ABC’s reality smash hit Dancing with the Stars may boogie right on up to the top. Or…will it? Last week the show scored more than twenty million viewers, but fewer tuned in to watch the results. This week, only fifteen million tuned in to the celebrity two-step. Between the two broadcast networks, eight of the top ten ratings list was dominated. Shows like Desperate Housewives, CSI: Miami, and Without a Trace secured the viewers – more than fifteen million each. NBC, the network that struggled in last place a year ago, almost managed to get 17 million viewers for Heroes. But at least one more network will attempt to bring in viewers, perhaps topping them all in the end.

FOX is still in contention for ratings dominance with House, which secured top honors on Tuesday two weeks in a row. True, one show does not ratings dominance make…but FOX’s fall lineup certainly is promising. The new fall reality series Kitchen Nightmares pulled in 6.6 million viewers for its Wednesday premiere, proving that reality chef star Gordon Ramsay has fall as well as summer appeal. Tonight marks the third week of the new series, another episode which will find Gordon in a truly nightmarish restaurant. He’ll make the place over, perhaps suggesting employee changes or re-vamping the menu, and re-open under a new banner. Reality TV happened here. Success will follow for the restaurant he helps…but will success follow for FOX? The fall season may be a tough ratings race, but that only last so long. Soon enough, midseason shows will begin to appear, and you know what that means. FOX will once again rule the reality roost with American Idol…so maybe it doesn’t really matter how the network’s fall shows do after all.