Hell's Kitchen Cooks INXS

CBS original reality series Rock Star: INXS got smoked in its debut by the competition Monday night.

CBS plans to blanket its airwaves with an excess of INXS (from Survivor's Mark Burnett), airing it three times a week a la American Idol.

The show, about the search for a new lead singer for the Australian rock group, averaged a 2.4 rating/7 share at 9-10 p.m.(according toNielsen overnight numbers for the 18-49 demo), placing second behind Fox's reality cook-off in the time period.

Fox won the night in the key 18-49 demo with a 3.0/9. Going head to head with INXS, Hell's Kitchen averaged a 3.2/9.

CBS took second place for the night in the demo with a 2.3/7. Its top show was CSI: Miami at a 2.6/7.

NBC was third on the night with a 2.0/6 for repeats of Fear Factor, Las Vegas, and its top show, Medium (2.2/6).

ABC trailed with a 1.8/5, continuing to get virtually nothing out of original reality show The Scholar (1.2/4), chronicling underprivileged high school students competing for a full-ride scholarship to the college of their choice.

The WB and UPN tied for fifth at a .9/3 apiece for repeats of their sitcom (UPN) and drama (WB) lineups.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.