Last night, reality competition reigned supreme, cops followed close behind and several shows proved that reruns really don’t bring in the viewers.

CBS’ Dancing with the Stars ruled the night, with 19.59 million viewers the first hour, and 22.16 million the second — typical numbers for the celebrity dancing competition, which is second in weekly ratings only to reigning champion American Idol.

Check out our recap of last night’s DWTS!

The only show even close to touching DWTS‘ ratings last night might surprise you. The little show that could: Castle.

ABC’s charismatic crime show clocked in 12.23 million viewers, well ahead of CBS’ Hawaii Five-0 (9.36 million viewers) and NBC’s Law and Order LA (4.81 million viewers). Ratings for Castle are sure to climb as the much-anticipated season finale approaches.

Missed last night’s Castle? Read our handy recap.

Two hiatus-happy shows benefited greatly last night from new episodes. FOX’s House and NBC’s Chuck, which both aired reruns last week, saw a significant rise in ratings. For Chuck, it was 4.12 million viewers (compared to only 3 million for last week’s rerun), and for House, it was a whopping 8.48 million (almost double last week’s viewership of 4.66 million). But is Chuck‘s million extra viewers for last night’s new episode enough to save the troubled show from imminent cancellation? Or has the spy show run its course?

CBS’ How I Met Your Mother also increased its viewership with a new episode, clocking in 6.73 million, as opposed to last week’s 5.25 million. CBS’ Mike and Molly fared well too, with 8.06 million viewers. Bringing up the rear was NBC’s The Event, with 4.02 million viewers. And chugging along like a resilient caboose? CW programming: 90210 with 1.5 million viewers, and Gossip Girl with 1.28 million.

Get all the juicy Gossip right here on BuddyTV.

Leave your thoughts on last night’s ratings in the comments below. And join us tomorrow for more dancing, as well as weight-loss and a whole lot of singing.

(Source: Nielsen)

(Image courtesy of CBS)

Matt Click

Staff Writer, BuddyTV