It's looking like CBS has a companion hit to go with "Two and a Half Men" on Monday nights.

The audience for summer reruns of the sitcom "The Big Bang Theory" is up 52 percent over last summer. Nielsen Media Research says the show had nearly as many viewers as television's top-rated comedy, "Two and a Half Men."

Summertime second runs are often when a show catches on. That happened last year with "NCIS" on CBS, which was the most popular drama on television the week of Aug. 10-16 .

To show you how broadcast TV still has the upper hand: An "NCIS" rerun had more than three times the audience of the third-season premiere of AMC's "Mad Men" on cable. And that premiere was the most-watched show in AMC's history.

"Mad Men," the reigning best-drama Emmy winner, drew 2.8 million people on Sunday; add in viewers who saw the second and third airings later that night, and AMC had a total audience of 4.5 million for the show.

For the week, network averages were: CBS, 6.3 million viewers (4.1 rating, 8 share); NBC, 5.3 million (3.4, 6); ABC, 4.3 million (2.8, 5); Fox, 4.1 million (2.5, 5); My Network, 1.5 million (0.9, 2); CW, 980,000 (0.6, 1); ION, 550,000 (0.4, 1).

In the evening news race: NBC "Nightly News," 7.4 million (4.9, 11); ABC "World News," 6.7 million (4.5, 10); "CBS Evening News," 5.6 million (3.8, 8).

ASSOCIATED PRESS

1 America's Got Talent (Tuesday) (NBC)

2 60 Minutes (CBS)

3 America's Got Talent (Wednesday) (NBC)

4 NCIS (CBS)

5 Two and a Half Men (CBS)

6 The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

7 The Mentalist (CBS)

8 Big Brother (Sunday) (CBS)

9 Big Brother (Thursday) (CBS)

10 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Monday) (ABC)

11 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Thursday) (ABC)

12 CSI: Miami (CBS)

13 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Sunday) (ABC)

14 Hell's Kitchen (Fox)

15 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS)

16 Big Brother (Tuesday) (CBS)

17 CSI: NY (CBS)

18 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Wednesday, (ABC)

19 Dateline (Monday) (NBC)

20 America's Got Talent (Tuesday) (NBC)