Ratings: Ellen Gives Idol a Boost; Lost Takes a Dip

Ellen DeGeneres' debut behind American Idol's judging table lifted the Fox hit's numbers as it remained Tuesday's most-watched program.
Idol's first night of Hollywood Weekdrew 27.7 million viewers, climbing 12 percent in the adults-18-to-49 demographic from the previous week and 4 percent in total viewers from Season 8's first night of Hollywood Week. Placing second at 8/7c was NCIS(19.7 million viewers), which took a small dip. NBC's Biggest Loserstruggled against the tough competition in the first hour, but improved greatly in its second, averaging 9.5 million viewers overall.
Read our recaps of Idol, Lost, Biggest Loser and more

At 9/8c, Lostdrew 11.2 million viewers, and won the hour among the demo, even though ratings fell by 11 percent from the show's Season 6 premiere. NCIS: Los Angeles (17.8 million viewers)was the hour's most-watched show, but the new Fox drama Past Life (9 million viewers) held only a third of Idol's lead-in.
The Good Wife(14.7 million viewers) handily defeated a new episode of The Forgotten (5.9 million viewers), which got an uptick following Lost. The final episode of The Jay Leno Showwas watched by 5.7 million viewers.