Fox again rolled to an easy victory across the board on Tuesday behind more slot-winning perfs from "American Idol" and "24," according to preliminary nationals from Nielsen.
"Idol" (9.7/25 in adults 18-49, 20 million viewers overall) was flat week-to-week and again dominated the 8 o'clock hour, besting both ABC and NBC in the hour by 155% in the 18-49 demo. And at 9, "24" was down slightly week-to-week but again led its hour comfortably in adults 18-49 (6.1/14).
NBC edged out ABC for second in adults 18-49, although limited-run series "Kingpin" slipped to third at 10 (3.8/10) with its lowest score in four tries. The drama didn't get much help this week from its lead-in, as new laffer "A.U.S.A." (3.6/8, 8.7 million viewers overall) retained just 72% of its "Frasier" 18-49 lead-in (5.0/12, 12.8 million viewers overall).
ABC was led by "NYPD Blue," which prevailed at 10 in adults 18-49 (4.3/11). Among the Alphabet's comedies, both "8 Simple Rules" (3.8/10) and "Less Than Perfect" (3.7/9) placed second in their slots among adults 18-49.
CBS ran fourth or lower in all the key demo categories, but its "Judging Amy" excelled at 10, placing second in both adults 18-49 (4.0/10) and 25-54 (5.0/12) and winning easily in total viewers (14 million).
Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 7.9/19; NBC, 4.0/10; ABC, 3.9/10; CBS, 3.2/8.
In total viewers: Fox, 16.3 million; CBS, 13.3 million; NBC, 9.8 million; ABC, 9.7 million.
Contact Rick Kissell at
rick.kissell@variety.com