• by Wayne Friedman , April 14, 2010

For Fox, it's a case of the rich getting richer -- now coming in a key period before the big May sweeps period. "Glee" returned to the airwaves after a fairly long hiatus to post a big Nielsen preliminary 5.6 rating/15 share among 18-49 viewers -- well over its 3.3 rating season average.

"Glee" numbers were the highest for any new show this year except for CBS' show "Undercover Boss," which had the big push of a Super Bowl lead-in.

One most nights, those numbers would make it the No. 1 broadcast show for any network. But Fox has another show that's equally impressive. Early in the evening, the network's big "American Idol" put up a 7.3/21 for a special 90-minute run, numbers which were flat versus the week before.

ABC's "Lost" at 9 p.m. went a bit lower -- a 3.8/10 from a 3.9/10 -- versus the week.

NBC's big Tuesday 8 p.m. hitter "The Biggest Loser" picked up a bit -- about 10% -- to a 3.3/9 from a 3.0/8. NBC's 10 p.m. show "Parenthood" continued to find a decent groove, now at a 2.5/7, down one-tenth of a rating point from the week before.

NBC's good news at 10 p.m. is ABC's not-so-good news for the time period. ABC's "V" is now at a 2.3/6, down from a 2.4/7 the week before.

CBS took a break on Tuesday -- offering up an all-repeat lineup of "NCIS," "NCIS: Los Angeles" and "The Good Wife."

The CW was a little ho-hum for its core women 18-34 viewers on Tuesday: a 1.3 rating for "90210" and a 0.9 number for "Melrose Place."

For the bigger 18-49 viewers for the night overall, Fox was at a 6.6/16; NBC, a 3.0/8; ABC, a 2.9/8; CBS, a 1.7/5; Univision, a 1.3/4; and CW, a 0.6/2.