"Chuck" returned Sunday night a little earlier than expected, but with virtually the same audience it left with.

A special weekend premiere of the show averaged a 4.1 rating/7 share, according to Fast National ratings from The Nielsen Co. That was nearly 3 percent better than its overnight average last season, and nearly 14 percent above its season finale on April 27.

In fact, it was the best outing for "Chuck" since its 3-D episode Feb. 2 that earned it a 4.9/7.

While it's provided some good news for NBC, which has had significant schedule issues for the past season and beyond, it lost 14 percent of its lead-in audience from "Dateline," and finished behind everything on the Sunday schedule in its timeslots, including "The Simpsons" 20th anniversary special and a rerun of "Criminal Minds" on CBS.

"Chuck" also is off nearly 15 percent from its average in the 2007-08 season, but slightly above its season premiere in 2008-09.

If "Chuck" can maintain those numbers going into Monday night, it will prove to be the strongest program NBC has had on its schedule that night all season. NBC is averaging a 3.8/6 in first-run, non-news and non-event programming on Mondays, led by the short run of "Sing-Off" in December with a 4.3/7 followed by "Trauma" and "The Jay Leno Show" with 3.7/6, both of which are said to be canceled.

"Heroes" has finished last on Mondays with a 3.5/5 average after 14 episodes, and rumors persist that this could be the last season for the show. During the weekend's Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles, NBC said it has not made a decision as of yet on the fate of the show.

NBC finished the night in fourth place with a 4.1/6, according to Zap2it.

"Chuck" will jump into its new timeslot of Mondays at 8 p.m. ET beginning Jan. 11, followed by "Heroes" and the final days of "Jay Leno" in primetime.

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.