It looks like "Heroes" is quite comfortable sitting in second place. The hit NBC show pulled in an 8.4 rating/13 share -- a slight improvement over the previous week's 8.2/12 -- to continue being the best-rated drama of network television's Monday 9 p.m. timeslot.

The key now for NBC, however, is to find a show to follow it.

"Heroes" finished ahead of "24" on Fox once again, the Kiefer Sutherland series pulling in a 7.9/12, according to Nielsen Media Research's Fast Nationals. Both shows finished behind the CBS comedy block of "Two and a Half Men" (10.5/16) and "Rules of Engagement" (8.7/13), but ahead of "Supernanny" on ABC, which picked up an improved 6.6/10.

"The Black Donnellys," a crime series created by the writer of "Million Dollar Baby" and "Crash," didn't do well as a lead-out show, however, finishing with just over 60 percent of the audience that had tuned in to "Heroes" the hour before with a 5.5/9. Those ratings aren't much better than what "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" was earning in the timeslot, and could mean some continued schedule shifting from there. "CSI: Miami" won that hour with an 11.0/18, with Oprah Winfrey's "Building a Dream" finishing in second on ABC with a 6.2/10.

NBC still finished behind CBS for the night however, but not by much. CBS earned an 8.8/14 while NBC had an 8.2/13, Zap2it reported. Fox was well behind with a 6.9/10 followed in fourth by ABC with a 6.2/10.

NBC did win the key demographic of adults 18 to 49, however, with a 4.9 rating, edging out CBS' 4.7.

Fast nationals usually provide a snapshot of what Americans are watching by pulling numbers from the top urban markets that includes both live viewing and same-day timeshifted viewing. A rating point generally represents more than 1.1 million households while the share indicates the percentage of televisions turned on that was tuned to the specific program. These numbers typically shift when final ratings are issued.