Fox clocks Tuesday victory with '24'

Morning Ratings Flash - Rick Kissell

By RICK KISSELL

Fox maintained its Tuesday lead in adults 18-49, winning this week behind another first-place finish from "24" (5.1/12), according to preliminary nationals from Nielsen. This is up about 20% over the drama's showing on the same night last year.

The net also received strong perfs from a pair of repeat episodes of "That '70s Show," including an 8:30 seg that led the slot in 18-49 (5.2/13).

ABC, which eked out a victory on the night in total viewers, ran second in adults 18-49 with repeats of its comedies and an original "NYPD Blue" (4.2/11 in adults 18-49, 11.8 million viewers overall). "8 Simple Rules" (4.7/13 in adults 18-49, 11.7 million viewers overall) led in the 8 o'clock half-hour.

Even opposite comedy repeats on the other nets, NBC struggled again in the opening hour with "Just Shoot Me" (2.5/7 in adults 18-49) and "In-Laws" (2.6/7) before bouncing up to second place with "Frasier" (5.0/12) and "Hidden Hills" (4.6/11), which looked strong after several soft perfs. From 10 to 11, "Dateline" ran second (4.0/11).

CBS was a distant fourth in both adults 18-49 and 25-54 with repeats of its dramas. Just one week earlier, original episodes lifted the net to a first-place finish in the 25-54 demo.

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 4.9/12; ABC, 4.0/12; NBC, 3.8/10; CBS, 2.5/6.

In total viewers: ABC, 10.1 million; CBS, 10.0 million; Fox, 9.6 million; NBC, 9.1 million.