Idol Kills the Competition—Again

The competition continues to be no contest at all for Fox’s American Idol, which again blew its rivals out of the water with its warblers on Tuesday, according to Nielsen Fast Affiliate overnight numbers.

A one-and-a-half-hour episode was the night’s highest-rated program by far, averaging a 12.3 rating/30 share in the 18-49 demo for the night and helping Fox to an overall win with a 10.7/26.

And The War at Home, which Fox broadcast at 9:30 after Idol, benefited from its new lead-in, easily winning its time slot with a 6.0/9. Its closest competition was the second half-hour of the Amazing Race season premiere (4.4/10).

CBS and NBC tied for a very distant second place for the night. Both networks scored a 3.8 rating in the demo; CBS got a 10 share, while NBC got a 9. NBC’s highest-rated show of the night was Law & Order: SVU from 10-11; it scored a 4.9/12. CBS’ Amazing Race premiere took up two hours of the night, scoring a 4/10 between 9 and 11.

ABC was fourth with a 2.8/7 for its lineup of sitcoms and Boston Legal.
The WB was fifth for the night with a 2.0/5 for TheGilmore Girls and Supernatural.

Univision came in next; its soaps earned the network a 1.6/4 for the night.

Last was UPN with a barely there 0.6/1 for an evening of repeats (Next Top Model, Girlfriends and Half-and-Half.)