(The numbers for CBS don't include Sunday's "60 Minutes," which aired an abbreviated episode in the eastern half of the country and its full hour out West.)

The first "Monday Night Football" game of the season was the week's No. 1 show, drawing a 13.0/22 for ABC. With most of its schedule still in reruns, though, the brief "MNF" pregame show (9.9/16, fifth) was the only other ABC program in the top 20. "Wife Swap," which has the difficult task of being football's companion on the night, began its second season with a 4.5/8, tied for 43rd overall.

The Emmy Awards, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, finished second for the week at 12.5/20, a huge improvement over last year's weak performance. The awards averaged close to 18.7 million viewers, nearly 5 million more than in 2004, when they aired on then-struggling ABC. On the flip side, "Survivor: Guatemala" (10.9/18), though it finished third overall, drew its smallest premiere audience since the show's first incarnation in the summer of 2000.

FOX's "House" proved its ability to stand tall without an "American Idol" lead-in, beginning its second season in fourth place overall with a 10.0/15. New Tuesday-night companion "Bones" also cracked the top 20, tying for 14th with a 6.7/11. "Prison Break," 5.8/9, snuck in just under the wire to tie for 19th.

A couple of other premieres -- CBS' "Threshold" (5.5/10) and NBC's "The Biggest Loser" (5.3/8) -- finished not far outside the top 20, tying for 23rd and 26th, respectively. The WB's "Gilmore Girls" (4.1/7) and "Supernatural" (3.6/6) also enjoyed healthy debuts, finishing 52nd and tied for 61st overall.

UPN's top show was "Friday Night Smackdown!," which finished 80th with a 2.3/4 -- down some from its previous average on Thursday nights.