You can rely on your most popular shows to give you a boost to the top. “Dancing with the Stars,” “Desperate Housewives,” as well as “Grey’s Anatomy” lent ABC a hand in kicking off yet another successful season. Thus, ABC managed to stick to its position of most-watched television network during premiere week for the second year in a row, according to Nielsen Media Research figures released on Tuesday.

ABC averaged more viewers than last year during premiere week, as more than 18.68 million viewers tuned in for “Desperate Housewives and 18.47 million opened their TVs so as to catch up with the troubled physicians in “Grey’s Anatomy.”

On the other hand, NBC and CBS registered a decline in audiences weighed against last year’s results, although the latter’s “NCIS” lured over 18 million viewers. Television watchers preferred nonetheless to tune in for their old time favorites and only one fresh show, CBS’s new crime drama “The Mentalist,” managed to enter the Top 10, with 15.6 million viewers.

The four most-watched shows of the week (September 22 – September 28) belong to ABC and the network averaged over 12 million viewers a night. CBS came in second, with approximately 11.2 million viewers a night, followed by NBC, which only lured 8.31 million viewers.

Fox claimed the fourth spot, with an average 7.49 million viewers, while the CW attracted approximately 2.9 million viewers a night. It may not seem much, but the network saw an impressive 18 percent boost compared to last year’s premiere week, as “Gossip Girl” and the “Beverly Hills” sequel, “90210,” seem to have been great bait for young TV watchers.