Ratings Chart Attack!

Some NBC execs are incredibly relieved over the end of the writers strike, especially since the debut of the navel-gazing twentysomething drama “Quarterlife,” repurposed from MySpace during the strike, put up the worst performance in the Tuesday 10 p.m. time slot that NBC has seen in nearly 17 years.

“Quarterlife” clocked in with a 1.6 in the 18- to 49-year-old age group, according to preliminary Nielsen research, down 39% from the previous four-week average in that time period, mainly held by “Law & Order: SVU.”

New episodes of “Jericho” (2.2) and “Primetime: What Would You Do?” (2.9) handily beat the premiere.

Meanwhile, “Idol” was top-rated on yet another Tuesday (11.0), but down 3% from last week’s two hour show. Due to the “Idol” lead-in, a special “Back to You” (4.5) had its best numbers to date.

Fox finished first for the night with a 9.4.

Despite “Quarterlife’s” stumble, NBC placed second overall with a 2.6, helped by a new episode of “The Biggest Loser: Couples” (3.1), down a mere 6% from last week.

CBS was third (2.3), with an “NCIS” rerun (2.1) and new episodes of “Big Brother” (2.6) and “Jericho” (2.2). Both “Brother” and “Jericho” posted increases from last week, up 37% and 10%, respectively.

ABC took fourth (1.8) with tepid showings from two episodes of “Just for Laughs” (1.2, 1.3), “According to Jim” (1.4) and “Carpoolers” (1.2).

“What Would You Do?” was the star of the night for ABC, improving the previous four-week average by 81%.

The CW (1.1) was fifth with a repeat of “Reaper” (0.7) and a new episode of “One Tree Hill” (1.4). “Hill” was up slightly from last week (1.3), and tied its second-best showing this season.

UPDATED, 4:41 p.m.: "Quarterlife" actually dipped lower than the preliminary numbers totaled, ending up with a 1.3, according to Nielsen numbers.