Even though its “American Idol” lead-in was down slightly from last week, Fox’s medical drama “House” climbed to a new season high.

“House” earned an 11.2 rating among adults 18 to 49, according to Nielsen. That’s up 10 percent over last week, while “Idol” (13.0) was down 4 percent. The finish continues to put “House” on track to become the highest-rated drama on television, while “Idol” continues to trend about 5 percent higher than last year.

NBC was a distant second place for the night with “Dateline” (2.4), posting its best performance in the time period since last January, then an on par “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (2.9) and “Law & Order: SVU” (4.9).

CBS was third with “NCIS” (3.6), “The Unit” (3.4) and a special “Without a Trace” (2.5). ABC was fourth with “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (2.0), “Primetime” (3.3) – which was up 27 percent over last week’s time period premiere — and an on par “Boston Legal” (2.8). The CW was fifth with “Gilmore Girls” (2.0) and “Veronica Mars” (1.0).

(Editor: Romanelli)