Swoon: ABC’s ‘Bachelor’ hits season high

“The Bachelor” is making women fall in love all over again.

The long-running ABC reality show, whose popularity seems to go in cycles depending on the likeability of the bachelor, is in an up cycle right now, hitting a season high for the second straight week.

“Bachelor” averaged a 3.0 in adults 18-49 from 8 to 10 p.m., according to Nielsen, up 11 percent from last week.

It marked the highest-rated non-finale episode of “Bachelor” since March 7, 2011. And helped lift lead-out “Castle” to a season-high 2.2 at 10 p.m., where it won its timeslot.

Of course, that high may also have been because of a mini “Firefly” reunion on the ABC drama last night between star Nathan Fillion and guest star Gina Torres, who both appeared on the late Fox Western.

With “Bachelor” and “Castle” surging, ABC jumped into a tie with CBS for first place for the night.

CBS had the evening’s two highest-rated shows, the 9 p.m. comedy “2 Broke Girls” and 8 p.m. comedy “How I Met Your Mother,” which each drew a 3.4. “Mother” grew 6 percent from the previous week while “Girls” was off 6 percent.

Fox’s “The Following” saw a big jump in its fifth week, rising 17 percent over last week’s rating to a 2.8.

And NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” was up 5 percent week to week to a 2.1 from 8 to 10 p.m.

ABC and CBS tied for first for the night among 18-49s, each with a 2.8 average overnight rating and 7 share. Fox was third at 2.5/6, NBC fourth at 1.8/5, Univision fifth at 1.6/4, Telemundo sixth at 0.5/1 and CW seventh at 0.3/1.

As a reminder, all ratings are based on live-plus-same-day DVR playback, which includes shows replayed before 3 a.m. the night before. Seven-day DVR data won’t be available for several weeks. Forty-seven percent of Nielsen households have DVRs.

CBS started the night in the lead with a 3.1 at 8 p.m. for “Mother” (3.4) and “Rules of Engagement” (2.8), followed by ABC with a 2.8 for “Bachelor.” Fox was third with a 2.1 for “Bones,” NBC fourth with a 2.0 for “Loser,” Univision fifth with a 1.7 for “Por Ella Soy Eva,” Telemundo sixth with a 0.5 for “Pasion Prohibida” and CW seventh with a 0.4 for “The Carrie Diaries.”

At 9 p.m. CBS led again with a 3.3 for “Girls” (3.4) and “Mike & Molly” (3.1), while ABC was a close second with a 3.2 for more “Bachelor.” Fox was third with a 2.8 for “Following,” NBC fourth with a 2.1 for more “Loser,” Univision fifth with a 1.8 for “Amores Verdaderos,” Telemundo sixth with a 0.7 for “La Patrona” and CW seventh with a 0.2 for “90210.”

ABC took the lead at 10 p.m. with a 2.2 for “Castle,” while CBS slipped to second with a 2.0 for “Hawaii Five-0.” Univision was third with a 1.4 for “Amor Bravio,” NBC fourth with a 1.2 for “Deception” and Telemundo sixth with a 0.4 for “El Rostro de la Venganza.”

Among households, ABC was first for the night with a 6.0 average overnight rating and a 9 share. CBS was second at 5.8/9, Fox third at 5.0/7, NBC fourth at 3.1/5, Univision fifth at 2.0/3, Telemundo sixth at 0.7/1 and CW seventh at 0.6/1.

Tags: abc, Broke Girls, castle, cbs, cw, dvr, fox, Fox Western, monday overnights, nbc, overnight ratings, overnights, season high, the bachelor, the following, univision