Ratings Chart Attack!

‘Loser’ Hangs Tough Against No. 1 ‘Idol’

February 4, 2009 10:37 AM

Some of “American Idol’s” competitors held strong Tuesday night as the reality show began its famed Hollywood week.

Biggest Loser

Fox’s “Idol” posted a 9.9 rating/25 share among adults 18-49 and drew 26.3 million viewers, according to preliminary Nielsen Media Research information. The show was up 1% in the demographic week-over-week, but it was down 12% for the night year-over-year. “Idol’s” lead-in helped “Fringe” to tie its highest rating ever with a 5.1/12 (13 million). With the top two shows of the night, Fox finished first with an average 7.5/18 (19.7 million).

A strong showing by “The Biggest Loser” helped give NBC second place for the night. Tuesday night’s episode was down a tick from last week’s rating, weighing in with a 4.0/10 (10.5 million). However, “Loser” posted a 33% increase from the same night last year, averaging a 15% increase year-over-year in the last four weeks against “Idol.” In the 10 p.m. hour, a new episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” scored a 3.7/10 (10.3 million), giving NBC an average 3.9/10 (10.4 million) for the night.

CBS finished third with a 2.9/7 (13.8 million), on par with repeat episodes of “NCIS” (2.9/7, 14.4 million) and “The Mentalist” (3.1/7, 15 million). A new episode of “Without a Trace” (2.6/7, 12 million) was down 7% from last week.

New episodes on ABC left the network in fourth place for the night with a 2.0/5 (5.4 million). Fresh episodes of “Homeland Security U.S.A.” (1.6/4, 5.7 million), two of “Scrubs” (2.1/5, 4.9 million, and 2.2/5, 4.7 million) and “Primetime: What Would You Do?” (2.3/6, 5.8 million) were all about even with last week.

The CW posted its best Tuesday night in a month. A new “90210” scored a 1.3/3 (2.4 million), its best ever against “Idol.” The freshman series was up 29% from its last original episode two weeks ago. A new “Privileged” scored a 0.8/2 (1.7 million), up a smidge from last week and its most watched episode since November. Overall the network averaged a 1.0/3 (2.1 million) in the demographic and a 2.1 rating among women 18-34.