A lot of things bug me about last night's TV ratings, but one thing I'm OK with is Gossip Girl's record low rating. Last week when the show returned from its winter break, Gossip Girl had its worst rating ever with 1.58 million viewers. Last night the show beat that record with just 1.5 million viewers. To put it into perspective, that's worse than the repeat of The Vampire Diaries the CW aired Friday night, the day after it originally aired.

I'm happy because it's proof that I'm not the only one who grew sick and tired of the dull and ridiculous plots the show was spinning. The viewing public has voted with their remotes, and while Gossip Girl was once the hottest thing on the CW, now it's the worst.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, the most-watched show of the night was a rerun of Two and a Half Men. I thought/prayed that Charlie Sheen's hard-partying ways and entry into rehab would have some negative side effects, but it turns out people will still watch his painfully unfunny show.

The second-highest rated show of the night was Harry's Law, which is equally unforgivable. I expected the show to have a drop-off in ratings by the third episode, but the show that has been crucified by critics is still getting huge numbers and is now one of NBC's biggest hits.

To prove how unfair this is, Chuck was the fourth lowest-rated show, only beating the two CW dramas and The Cape. Chuck had a brilliant episode that wrapped up the Volkoff storyline and saw Ellie give birth to Clara (aka Baby Awesome). Why would more people watch repeats of Castle, Hawaii Five-0 and all four CBS comedies?

Finally, as proof that time slot is what really matters, Human Target had its highest rating of the season with a special Monday episode. Clearly when something on is more important than what it is.

Here are the ratings from Monday, January 31.

8PM
The Bachelor: 9.4 million
Human Target: 7.8 million
How I Met Your Mother and Rules of Engagement: 7.4 and 7.45 million
Chuck: 5.9 million
90210: 1.75 million

9PM
Two and a Half Men and Mike and Molly: 11.2 and 9.1 million
The Bachelor: 9.6 million
Lie to Me: 7.05 million
The Cape: 5.3 million
Gossip Girl: 1.5 million

10PM
Harry's Law: 10.9 million
Hawaii Five-0: 6.9 million
Castle: 6.3 million


(Image courtesy of the CW)