Viewers are apparently ready to forgive and forget the recent writers’ strike. While ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” dominated the night in total viewers, as expected, CBS’s four-sitcom block drew very strong ratings in adults 18-49 with its first original episodes in more than three months.

Three of the shows bettered their season premieres, according to Nielsen overnights. “Two and a Half Men” averaged a 5.4 adults 18-49 rating at 9 p.m., nearly tying “Stars’” final half hour, which averaged a 5.5, though the latter drew 6.8 million more total viewers than “Men’s” 14 million.

“Men” was up 15 percent over its 4.7 average for its premiere in September and also posted a season high.

“How I Met Your Mother” hit a season-high 4.3 rating at 8:30 p.m., swapping timeslots with “The Big Bang Theory” at 8 p.m., which averaged a 3.7. “Mother” soared 34 percent over its 3.2 debut in September, while “Bang” matched its 3.7.

And “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” returning to last year’s 9:30 p.m. timeslot, also hit a season high with a 4.3 rating. It was the only CBS show to win its timeslot, and it retained 80 percent of “Men’s” lead-in.

Combined with “Stars’” usual huge opener, which drew 20.9 million total viewers for its 90-minute sixth-season debut, broadcast had one of its best nights since the writers’ strike put a dent in the networks’ schedules.

At the least, the CBS shows’ strong returns suggest that viewers will embrace the reemergence of their favorite shows, which some had questioned after rating sunk over recent weeks. The same thing was seen for late-night shows, which recorded big viewership boosts in their first weeks back from a two-month hiatus.

“Stars” was the night’s highest-rated program with a 5.5. Though that was down 14 percent from last year’s spring premiere, it was down only 5 percent from last fall’s 5.8.

ABC led the night among viewers 18-49 with a 4.4 average overnight rating and a 12 share. CBS was second at 3.9/10, NBC third at 2.5/7, Fox fourth at 2.0/5, Univision fifth at 1.5/4 and CW sixth at 0.7/2.
 
At 8 p.m. ABC was first with a 5.5 rating for its first hour of “Stars,” followed by CBS with a 4.0 average for “Bang” (3.7) and “Mother” (4.3). Univision was third with a 1.9 for “Al Diablo con los Guapos,” and Fox fourth with a 1.7 for “Canterbury’s Law,” even to last week’s premiere. NBC placed fifth with a series-low 1.5 for “My Dad is Better than Your Dad” and CW sixth with a 0.6 for a repeat of “Gossip Girl.”
 
CBS took the lead at 9 p.m. with a 4.9 average for “Men” (5.4) and “Christine” (4.3), while ABC fell to second with a 4.4 average for the last half hour of “Stars” (5.5) and the first 30 minutes of the season premiere of “The Bachelor” (3.3). NBC was third with a 2.9 for “Deal or No Deal,” Fox fourth with a 2.3 for “New Amsterdam,” Univision fifth with a 1.6 for “Pasion” and CW sixth with a 0.7 for “The Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious.”
 
At 10 p.m. ABC regained the lead with a 3.3 for its final hour of “Bachelor,” with NBC a close second with a 3.2 for “Medium.” CBS was third with a 3.0 for a repeat of “CSI: Miami” and Univision fourth with a 1.1 for “Cristina.”
 
Among households, ABC was first for the night with a 9.6 average overnight rating and a 15 share, followed by CBS at 6.7/11, NBC at 5.1/8, Fox at 4.1/7, Univision at 1.9/3 and CW at 1.2/2.