Have you been watching TV this week? It seems likely, given some lofty ratings for several programs. With cold weather finally descending on much of the country, it's no wonder viewers are firing up the tube.

	Paul Drinkwater, NBC Hiro (Masi Oka) found his sword and NBC's "Heroes" found itself in the winner's circle in its first face-off with Fox's "24" Monday night. Click photo for larger image.

Following last week's blockbuster "American Idol" ratings, CBS got this week off to a bang-up start with its coverage of the New England-Indianapolis football game on Sunday, drawing 46.7 million viewers to make it the most-watched program of the 2006-07 TV season (even beating "Idol," which had 37.3 million in its season premiere) and the most watched AFC championship game in at least 20 years.

Then on a super-competitive Monday, CBS had its best Monday night household ratings for the season even as NBC finished No. 1 in the 18-49 demo.

"Heroes" had its first showdown with "24," and "Heroes" came away the winner with 14.84 million viewers to 14.44 million viewers for "24" (CBS's "Two and a Half Men" did even better, notching 16.06 million viewers). "Heroes" also beat "24" in the 18-49 demos.

In other ratings news, Sci Fi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica" moved to Sunday and drew mixed results.

Although "Galactica" was the most watched cable show for the day in the 18-to-49 demo and helped improve the network's time-slot ratings, its draw of 1.8 million total viewers was down from the show's season average of 1.9 million viewers when it aired on Friday night.

The good news: "Galactica" performed better than its lead-in, "The Dresden Files" (1.73 million viewers), and improved its demographic ratings by 60 percent in the 18-to-49 demo compared to its mid-season finale in December. Ratings among female viewers in key demos also improved. Sci Fi Channel executives have said they'll make a decision on renewing the show for a fourth season by mid-February.

'Dreamgirls' on BET

No, the movie that was snubbed for a best picture Oscar nomination this week won't air on BET just yet, but a new, upbeat docu-drama about a New Orleans high school staging "Dreamgirls" did premiere this week.

Airing at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, "One Night Only" chronicles the ups and downs of high school students trying to stage the musical "Dreamgirls" while recovering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. This week's premiere episode repeats at 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. tomorrow.

"One Night Only" isn't the most compelling docu-drama, but it paints a positive portrait of teens striving for excellence in conditions that are far from ideal. Compared to some of the shows BET has aired, its optimistic themes are to be lauded.

Laughs at 'Lost'

Remember last year when "Lost" killed off the characters played by Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros after both were cited for drunk driving? Many fans thought their characters were doomed as a result of their arrests; producers denied that theory at the time.

At a recent press tour panel featuring show runners from several ABC series in Pasadena, Calif., executive producer Carlton Cuse credited ABC with embracing the writers' crazy ideas.

"When you say, 'Oh, well, we're going to have Michael shoot two of our other characters. He's one of our leads, and he's going to murder two of our other leads. How do you feel about that?' " Cuse said.

"They're like, 'As long as one of them is Michelle Rodriguez, we're cool,' " added executive producer Damon Lindelof. "And that's a joke."

"Lost" returns with new episodes at 10 p.m. Feb. 7.

Coming to DVD

While we do review a lot of TV on the Video page of Thursday's Weekend Magazine, we tend not to review TV shows on DVD if they have no extras because, well, we most likely already reviewed them when they first aired. But sometimes it's worthwhile to at least let you know when shows are coming out on DVD, even without extras.

That's especially the case with the first season of the cult CBS drama "Beauty and the Beast," which will be released Feb. 13 for $49.99. Although it would seem to be the kind of show that would cry out for extras, there are none on the six-disc release from CBS Video.

Also coming out on DVD on the same date (but with considerably less clamoring for it, I'd imagine) is the complete series of NBC's "Men Behaving Badly" ($34.98, Shout! Factory), starring Rob Schneider, Ron Eldard and Justine Bateman.

Channel surfing

Sony has canceled the syndicated "Greg Behrendt Show." ... Dave Price of CBS's "The Early Show" will broadcast from a different city every Friday from Feb. 16 to March 23 as part of "Dave Price: All-Access Pass," including a stop in Pittsburgh on March 16, airing live from UPMC SportsWorks at Carnegie Science Center on the North Shore. ... Lifetime's "Lisa Williams: Life Among the Dead" has been renewed for a second season to air this summer. ... The former Pax TV, which had been going by "i," has changed its name, yet again, to ION Television. ... WTAE has hired a new night reporter. University of Michigan graduate Tara Edwards joins Channel 4 from WNEM in Saginaw, Mich., where she was a freelance reporter/anchor. Before that she was a weekend anchor/reporter in Flint, Mich.

TV Q&A

The TV Q&A took a longer hiatus than I intended. Apologies for the delay. I wrote one for Jan. 12 that never made it online, but it's been incorporated in this week's edition, which responds to questions about "Day Break" online, the future of A&E and Comcast's banner ads on its programming guide.

Read it online at www.post-gazette.com/tv.