'Idol' dominates Tuesday ratings

Fox wins night with reality hit, 'Fringe'

By STUART LEVINE

To absolutely no one's surprise, "American Idol" dominated the primetime landscape and, with the help of "Fringe," gave Fox an easy win Tuesday night. The network more than doubled closest competitor NBC in the 18-49 demo race, with CBS finishing a close third and ABC trailing.

According to preliminary Nielsen estimates, "Idol" (9.6 rating/24 share, 25.2 million viewers) outdistanced everyone. "Idol" drew more than 3 million from last Tuesday, but the attention of many that night was on the inauguration festivities for President Barack Obama. On a more somber note for Fox, however, looking back to Jan. 13 -- the opening night of "Idol" -- total viewers were down more 5 million and about 700,000 down from last Wednesday.

CBS' "NCIS" (3.9/10, 19 million viewers) came in second in the 8 o'clock hour with the first hour of NBC's "The Biggest Loser" (3.2/8, 9 million viewers) in third. ABC's "Homeland Security" (1.6/4, 5.6 million viewers) has drawn little traction since its Jan. 6 debut and could see its demise sooner rather than later.

A tight battle at 9 o'clock saw the second hour of "The Biggest Loser" (4.9/12, 12.9 million viewers) edge out "Fringe" (4.8/11, 12 million viewers) for a Peacock win. A repeat of "The Mentalist" (2.9/7, 15.1 million viewers) drew more eyeballs than either of the aforementioned shows but fell short in the demo. ABC's double episodes of "Scrubs" (2.2/5, 5 million viewers), which came to the Alphabet after seven seasons on NBC, was on par with its ratings from two weeks ago.

The 8-10 p.m. broadcast of "The Biggest Loser" drew its largest non-premiere or non-finale total viewer totals since January 2005.

In a competitive 10 o'clock slot, CBS' "Without a Trace" (2.7/7, 12.7 million viewers) defeated a repeat of "Law & Order" (2.4/6, 7.1 million viewers) and ABC's reality skein "What Would You Do?" (2.3/6, 6.3 million viewers).

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 7.2/18; NBC, 3.5/9; CBS, 3.2/8; ABC, 2/5; Univision, 1.7/4; CW, 0.3/1.

In total viewers: Fox, 18.6 million; CBS, 15.6 million; NBC, 9.7 million; ABC, 5.6 million; Univision, 4.3 million; CW, 948,000.