‘Dancing With the Stars’ makes ABC winner on TV season’s opening night, NBC, CBS get sampling

‘Dancing With the Stars’ TV’s opening night winner

NEW YORK — Forget Bristol Palin and The Situation. It’s the folks at ABC who are dancing.

The Nielsen Co. said Tuesday that the 21 million people who watched Monday’s two-hour “Dancing With the Stars” made it the clear winner on the opening night of a new television season. After a long, slow summer, CBS and NBC had some good news, too.

The “Dancing With the Stars” debut was up 18 percent over last season’s opener.

Two other winners: CBS’ remake of “Hawaii Five-0,” which was the second-most popular show of the night, and NBC’s new mystery “The Event.” The night’s biggest loser was Fox’s “Lone Star.”