SMASHING RATINGS FOR THE VOICE; FOR SMASH, TOO

Ratings for NBC’s The Voice and Smash climbed appreciably on Monday with the talent contest drawing 16.3 million viewers (peaking in the second hour with 17 million) and the musical drama 7.9 million. That gave the struggling network another win for Monday night, with ABC coming in a distant second with 7.6 million viewers. CBS, which often reigns supreme on Monday night wound up in third place with 6.9 million viewers. All of its shows were repeats. Particularly impressive was the first-place showing of Smash, which has struggled to be kept on NBC’s schedule as ratings spiraled down. On Monday night it beat its principal rivals, ABC’s Castle and CBS’s Hawaii Five-0; however those shows were in rerun mode.