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Fox's powerhouse combo of "American Idol" and "House" shut the door on its primetime competish Tuesday night, with the net doubling and tripling the nightly averages of the other major networks, according to preliminary nationals from Nielsen.

Facing more repeats than usual, "American Idol" (11.4/30 in adults 18-49, 28.2 million viewers overall) was on par with recent outings in the hour - outperforming the other five broadcast nets combined by 28% among adults 18-49 (11.4 vs. 8.9) and by 31% among adults 18-34 (10.1 vs. 7.7).

A repeat of CBS drama "NCIS" was a distant second in the time period (2.5/6 in adults 18-49, 11.8 million viewers overall).

At 9, Fox's hot rookie drama "House" established more series highs (6.7/17 in adults 18-49, 17.4 million viewers overall), topping second-place "The Amazing Race 7" on CBS (4.9/12 in adults 18-49, 12.6 million viewers overall) by 5 shares in adults 18-49. At NBC, the finale of comedy "Committed" settled for a distant fourth-place finish at 9:30 (2.2/5 in adults 18-49, 5 million viewers overall).

It was a weak showing in the 10 o'clock hour by the broadcast nets, which combined for a measly 28 share of the adults 18-49 audience. A repeat of NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (3.9/10 in adults 18-49, 11.1 million viewers overall) won out over original segs of ABC's "Blind Justice" (3.6/10 in adults 18-49, 10.4 million viewers overall) and CBS' "Judging Amy" (3/8 in adults 18-49, 10.2 million viewers overall). "Justice" was down 20% from its week-earlier premiere.

And there was a little spark for the WB's unscripted series "The Starlet" (1/2 in adults 18-49, 2.2 million viewers overall), which despite a repeat "Gilmore Girls" lead-in, improved slightly week-to-week.

Preliminary adults 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 9.1/23; CBS, 3.5/9; ABC, 3.1/8; NBC, 2.7/7; WB, 1.2/3; UPN, 0.9/2.

In total viewers: Fox, 22.8 million; CBS, 11.5 million; ABC, 8.8 million; NBC, 6.6 million; WB, 2.7 million; UPN, 2.4 million.