Ratings: Justified Rides High; Idol Wins Again

Justified drew 4.2 million viewers Tuesday night, making it FX's biggest series premiere since The Shielddebuted to 4.8 million viewers in 2002, the network said. The new drama ranked No. 1 on cable for the night in overall viewers and even beat the broadcast networks at 10/9c among men 18-to-49.

Fox won a slow night for the networks as American Idol's two-hour top 12 performance program drew 22.6 million viewers and continued its dominance among all 18-to-49-year-olds, according to Nielsen overnight estimates.

CBS placed second for the night, but saw all its shows fall in the demo versus their last new episodes. NCIS(17.6 million viewers) was down 11 percent to a season low, NCIS: Los Angeles(15 million) was down 9 percent and The Good Wife(13.4 million) slipped 4 percent but still won the 10/9c timeslot.

NBC's The Biggest Loseraveraged 7.2 million viewers over its two hours, but fell 10 percent in the demo to its season low. Parenthood(5.9 million) was also down 12 percent in the demo from the previous week.
Lost(8.8 million viewers) dropped 10 percent in the demo, tying a series low. ABC finished fourth overall for the night, with a Lost repeat at 8/7c (3.9 million viewers) and a FlashForwardclip show (4.4 million) at 10/9c.
90210and Melrose Placepulled in 1.5 million and 1.4 million viewers for the CW, respectively.