'House' hot for Fox in ratings race

CBS remains solid with 'NCIS', 'Mentalist'

By RICK KISSELL

Boosted by the top-rated episode of "House" since mid-September, Fox has captured another Tuesday in key demo categories. "Fringe" also won its hour in young adults for Fox, while CBS remained solid thanks to "NCIS" and "The Mentalist."

According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, "House" (5.5 rating/15 share in adults 18-49, 12.9 million viewers overall) dominated the 8 o'clock hour in demos for Fox, posting its best in-season scores this fall. "Fringe" (4.0/10 in 18-49, 9.1 million viewers overall) followed with more solid results, though its retention of "House" dipped a bit.

CBS, which won the night in total viewers, was paced by its sturdy combo of veteran "NCIS" (3.6/10 in 18-49, 17.1 million viewers overall) and rookie "The Mentalist" (3.4/9 in 18-49, 15.3 million viewers overall). "NCIS" was second to "House" in 18-49 while remaining the night's most-watched show overall, and "The Mentalist" continued to hold onto most of its lead-in while scoring a narrow lead for the 9 o'clock hour among adults 25-54 (4.8/11). At 10, "Without a Trace" (2.6/7 in 18-49, 11.6 million viewers overall) ran second in demos and first in total viewers.

NBC remained competitive but was down slightly vs. recent weeks with its two-hour "Biggest Loser" (2.9/8 in 18-49, 7.3 million viewers overall) and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (3.5/10 in 18-49, 9.4 million viewers overall). "SVU" won its timeslot as usual in all key demo categories.

At ABC, a "Dancing With the Stars" recap show at 8 o'clock (2.0/6 in 18-49, 9.3 million viewers overall) improved the timeslot considerably over last week's showing for the since-canceled gameshow "Opportunity Knocks." The stronger, more compatible lead-in then helped the "Dancing" results show hit season highs at 9 (roughly 3.9/9 in 18-49, 16.4 million viewers overall). Closing out the night, third-place "Eli Stone" (roughly 2.1/6 in 18-49, 8.0 million viewers overall) was on par with the rating for its modest season-premiere performance of last week.

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 4.7/13; CBS, 3.2/9; NBC, 3.1/8; ABC, 2.7/7; Univision, 1.6/4; CW, 0.7/2.

In total viewers: CBS, 14.6 million; ABC, 11.3 million; Fox, 11.0 million; NBC, 8.0 million; Univision, 4.1 million; CW, 1.4 million.