Nice beginning for 'Bachelor Pad'

ABC's bid to increase the ''Bachelor'' franchise much deeper into summer time is on an excellent start, as Monday's ''Bachelor Pad'' was up versus. its series opener last year and also the internet finished second among teenagers to Fox's cooking contests. Based on preliminary national estimations from Nielsen, the 3-hour debut of ''Bachelor Pad,'' by which former participants of both ''The Bachelor'' and ''The Bachelorette'' share a home ala ''Big Brother,'' averaged a couple.2 rating/6 be part of grown ups 18-49 and 6.9 million audiences overall. It matched up or set series levels in many groups, surging towards the broadcast lead at 10, and was Monday's No. 1 show as a whole audiences. Fox won the evening in demos, though, as ''Hell's Kitchen'' (2.7/8 in 18-49, 6.5 million audiences overall) matched up its best demo score from the summer time while striking a higher as a whole audiences. After that it brought into ''MasterChef'' (2.3/6 in 18-49, 5.5 million audiences overall), that was flat week to week and handle a tick behind ''Bachelor Pad'' for that 18-49 lead within the 9 o'clock hour. CBS hung inside with repeats of ''How I Met Your Mother'' (1.1/4 in 18-49, 4. million audiences overall at 8 p.m. and 1.3/4 in 18-49, 4.a million audiences overall at 8:30 p.m.), ''Two . 5 Men'' (1.5/4 in 18-49, 5.4 million audiences overall), ''Mike and Molly'' (1.3/3 in 18-49, 4.9 million audiences overall) and ''Hawaii Five-0'' (1./3 in 18-49, 4.six million audiences overall). And NBC did not do much using its two-hour encore of ''America's Got Talent'' (1.1/3 in 18-49, 4.7 million audiences overall), then a repeat of ''Harry's Law'' (.6/2 in 18-49, 3.8 million audiences overall). Preliminary 18-49 earnings for that evening: Fox, 2.5/7 ABC, 2.2/6 Univision, 1.3/4 CBS, 1.2/3 NBC, 1./3 CW, .3/1. As a whole audiences: ABC, 6.9 million Fox, 6. million CBS, 4.six million NBC, 4.4 million Univision, 3.two million CW, .six million. Contact Ron Kissell at ron.kissell@variety.com