Ratings: Idol Premiere Dips Opposite CBS' Double Whammy
American Idol
Tuesday's tallies, at a glance:
8 pm/ET
Opposite CBS' surging NCIS and Mentalist, American Idol's Season 8 debuted to an audience of 30.08 million total viewers, a 10 percent dip from its year-ago opener. While NCIS only dropped three percent versus the Fox juggernaut, delivering 18.48 mil, others weren't so lucky. The Biggest Loser (8.76 mil) lost 26 percent of its strong premiere audience, while 90210 (2.18 mil) slid 21 percent.
9 pm
With Idol in the mix, The Mentalist saw a drop of eight percent, to 18 mil. Trailing Loser, Scrubs (4.48 mil) and Privileged (1.13 mil) both plunged 34 percent.
10 pm
Without a Trace topped the hour with 12.4 million viewers, while SVU (9.66 mil, down nine percent) led the demos.