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'Idol' dominates Wednesday ratings

Fox reality show nabs 26.9 million viewers

By STUART LEVINE

Louisville auditioner Randy Katynski, above, on Fox's ratings stalwart, 'American Idol.'

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"American Idol" thoroughly trounced the competition at 8 o'clock to propel Fox to a dominant win in Wednesday night's TV race. The network's 18-49 demos were higher than NBC, CBS and ABC's combined.

"Idol" (10.1 rating/25 share, 26.9 million viewers) saw a slight uptick compared to last Wednesday's broadcast in both ratings and total eyeballs. NBC's "Knight Rider" (1.9/5, 6.1 million viewers) came in second, barely edging out a repeat of "Lost" (1.7/4, 5.2 million viewers). CBS offered a Katie Couric news special (1.2/3, 6.4 million viewers) and a repeat of "The New Adventures of Old Christine" (1.1/3, 4.9 million viewers) a half-hour later.

A tight battle ensued at 9 p.m. where a new episode of "Lost" (4.8/11, 11 million viewers) defeated the second-ever episode of Fox's Tim Roth starrer "Lie to Me" (4.4/10, 12.1 million viewers). Both shows premiered last week and each held up fairly well: "Lost" drew nearly the same ratings while "Lie to Me" dropped 11%. As for total viewers, the shows held their audience.

CBS came in third with a repeat of "Criminal Minds" (2.5/6, 10.6 million viewers) while NBC offered a repeat of "Law & Order: SVU" (1.9/4, 6.4 million viewers).

After a two-month hiatus and a move from Thursday to Wednesday, ABC brought back "Life on Mars" at 10 p.m. The move didn't seem to have helped. The Brit import earned a 2.3/6, with 6.5 million viewers, which was down from the 2.5/7, 7.8 million viewers it earned on Nov. 20 before going off the air.

"Life of Mars" came in third in a close race, narrowly losing to "Law & Order" (2.6/7, 8.8 million viewers) and a repeat of "CSI: NY" (2.4/6, 9.4 million viewers).

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 7.2/18; ABC, 2.9/7; NBC, 2.1/5; CBS, 2.0; Univision, 1.8/5; CW, 0.4/1.

In total viewers: Fox, 19.5 million; CBS, 8.6 million; ABC, 7.6 million; NBC, 7.1 million; Univision, 4.6 million; CW, 1 million.