• by Wayne Friedman , March 6, 2006

Round two of the battle of the Thursday night TV titans also gave the gold medal to "American Idol"--not unexpectedly.

Last Thursday, Fox won for best show of the evening with a preliminary 10.8 rating/27 rating among adult 18-49 viewers and 26.2 million viewers overall. CBS shows gang-tackled the amateur singer contest for the night overall, as "Idol" slipped a bit--10 percent below its typical Tuesday and Wednesday average.

Still, "Idol" was up over last week's Thursday showdown, where it earned a smaller 9.7/24 winning mark. That's when "Idol" took on "Survivor: Exile Island" as well as NBC's "Winter Olympics," and bested all comers. This week it was only "Survivor" that stood in its way.

Overall, CBS claimed the evening with total viewers as its triple threat--"Survivor," "CSI," and "Without a Trace" grabbed 21.1 million viewers to Fox's 20.2 million. CBS also claimed that for the first time in two years a prime-time show, "CSI," bested "Idol" in total viewers.

No matter. Fox took home the gold medal for adult 18-49 viewers--the demographic group that matters most to national advertisers. It pulled in 8.0/19. CBS was next with a 6.7/17. Then came NBC, 4.5/11; ABC, 2.7/7; WB, 1.4/3; UPN1.0/3.

Fox's other prime-time show of the night, "Skating with Celebrities," finished strong as well--a 5.2/12 in viewers 18-49, 14.1 million viewers overall.

NBC sans Olympics drifted backwards. Its game show "Deal or No Deal"--which was hyped during the Winter Olympics--fell to its lowest ratings to date, a 2.9/7 in 18-49. But the network revived later in the evening with "My Name is Earl" at 5.1/12 in viewers 18-49 and "The Office" with a 4.4/10 in viewers 18-49.

Fourth-place ABC also didn't have a big hitter to count on--as "Dancing with the Stars" had its finale the Sunday before. With a repeat of theatrical movie "Sweet Home Alabama," it produced only a 2.6/6 in 18-49.