The initial overnight ratings are now in, and there’s some good news for some shows and bad news for others.

CBS, of course, ruled the night with its comedies, with only Accidentally on Purpose at 8:30 falling under 10 million viewers. Night #2 of the current season of 24 also did well, with 10.56 million viewers.

Chuck continues to perform strongly, with 6.66 million, but its Monday night NBC companion, Heroes, didn’t have a very good night, falling under 4 million to 3.93 million viewers.

Under 4 million. For a show that was once a hit. On NBC. Not good. Fortunately for Heroes fans, NBC’s woes probably mean there will be another season, since there is very little else in development that could replace it.

ABC’s Castle continues to do well, with this week’s installment getting 9.44 million viewers.

And then finally, The CW will hopefully learn that quality programming does pay off as Life Unexpected premiered to a strong (for the CW) 2.74 million viewers. Hopefully this means Lux, Cate, and Baze will be on our television screens for quite a while.

For more detailed ratings information and analysis for today, visit TVByTheNumbers. Overnight ratings numbers are preliminary and are subject to change.

UPDATE: Here’s The CW’s press release about Life Unexpected‘s ratings:

NEW CW HIT LIFE UNEXPECTED SOARS TO LARGEST AUDIENCE
IN THE HOUR IN OVER A YEAR

LIFE UNEXPECTED Delivers The CW’s Best Total Audience
in the Time Period Since January 2009

LIFE UNEXPECTED Improves on its Lead-In and
Builds/Holds at the Half Hour Across the Board

January 19, 2010 (Burbank, CA) – The CW’s critically acclaimed new hit drama LIFE UNEXPECTED premiered to the largest audience (2.74mil) in the Monday 9:00-10:00p.m. hour in over a year (since 1/12/2009), according to preliminary live plus same day Nielsen ratings for Monday, Jan. 18, 2010. The LIFE UNEXPECTED debut matched the GOSSIP GIRL original season average in adults 18-34 (1.7/4) and adults 18-49 (1.2/3).

LIFE UNEXPECTED improved on its ONE TREE HILL lead-in by 14% in women 18-34 (2.4/6), 13% in adults 18-34 (1.7/4), 13% in women 18-49 (1.7/4), 9% in adults 18-49 (1.2/3), 17% in females 12-34 (2.1/5), 25% in persons 12-34 (1.5/4) and 25% in total viewers (2.74mil).

LIFE UNEXPECTED also built or held at the 9:30p.m. half hour in every category.

The combination of an original ONE TREE HILL and LIFE UNEXPECTED gave The CW its largest Monday audience (2.5mil) since 11/09/09.