Related: BC Review: ABC's "Better Off Ted"
One hour of American Idol, preceded by a strong showing of Lie To Me, was enough to keep Fox in first place for the second straight day. Idol earned a 8.4/21, down from last week's 9.1/23, and averaged 23.1 million viewers.
Lie To Me led off the night in front with a 3.1/9 for Fox. CBS and ABC tied for second in the 8 p.m. time slot at 2.2/7. Scrubs on ABC earned a 2.2/7 at 8 followed by the debut of the new comedy Better Off Ted, which did a 2.2/6, finishing third in the 8:30 half-hour. CBS’ New Adventures of Old Christine delivered a 2.1/7 and Gary Unmarried topped Better Off Ted at 8:30 with a 2.3/7. America’s Next Top Model on the CW finished fourth at 1.6/5 while NBC came in fifth with a 1.2/4 for the new reality cooking show Chopping Block.
At 9, Fox distanced itself from the pack with Idol at 8.4/21. The 9:30 half-hour was the most-watched of the night across the five networks with 24.4 million average viewers and was tops with a 9.0/21 rating. Lost on ABC was next with a 4.2/10. CBS’ Criminal Minds delivered a third-place 3.2/8. NBC moved up to fourth at 1.5/4 with Life, while the CW fell into fifth with a re-run of 90210 pulling a 0.4/1.
CBS took the lead at 10 p.m. with a 3.3/9 for CSI: NY. Law & Order on NBC was next at 2.1/6 with ABC falling just behind at 2.0/5 for Life On Mars.
Overall Fox averaged a 5.7/16 over its two hours of original programming. The network was tops with 16.5 million viewers. CBS was second at 2.9/8 with ABC right behind at 2.8/8. NBC finished fourth with a 1.6/4. The CW was fifth with a 1.0/3.
