• by Wayne Friedman , October 6, 2006

While ABC tussled with NBC for a tie on Tuesday, Wednesday wasn't even a contest. ABC dominated with a powerful season debut of "Lost."

Taking no prisoners, "Lost" found a healthy 7.7 rating/19 share--easily dominating CBS' "Criminal Minds" in the 9 p.m. hour. Still, ABC's "The Nine"--the debut of the hostage drama series--lost 40 percent of the "Lost" lead out at 10 p.m., earning a 4.6/12. "CSI: NY" won the 10 p.m. time period with a 4.9/14.

Conversely, NBC went under the 2.0 rating watermark for two of its new dramas. "Kidnapped"--which will stop its run after its 13 produced episodes are aired--came in with a sub-par 1.9/5, at 10 p.m. A rerun of "Friday Night Lights" offered up an anemic 1.6/5. NBC's "The Biggest Loser" was its biggest winner of the night--grabbing a 3.0/7 and coming in at fourth place in the time period.

ABC won the night with a 5.6 rating/15.1 share. CBS was a distant second, at a 4.2/11. Fox, with "Bones" and a rerun of "House," earned a 3.1/8. NBC was next at a 2.2/6--barely beating out the CW, which took in a 2.0/5 for the night with boffo ratings for "America's Next Top Model" and somewhat less for "One Tree Hill."

For the 8 p.m. hour, ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" averaged a 4.5/13. Next was CBS' "Jericho" at 3.4/10. Fox's "Bones" had a 2.8; CW's "America's Next Top Model" a 2.6, and Univision's "La Fea Mas Bella" a 1.8.

CW's programming is also on the move--in a big way: On Oct. 9, the network's entire Sunday programming block will swap with its Monday block. CW's Sunday night comedy block of "Everybody Hates Chris," "All of Us," "Girlfriends," and new series "The Game" will move to Monday from 8-10 p.m.

The CW will rebroadcast each comedy's season premiere on Mon., October 9, with original episodes starting the follow week. The network's new Sunday lineup will start October 15 with an encore show of "America's Next Top Model" at 7 p.m., then "7th Heaven" at 8 p.m., and "Runaway" at 9 p.m.

While networks have made moves because of iffy performances, ABC has made a preemptive strike of its own, pulling "Knights of Prosperity" off the schedule. It was to debut Oct. 17, in the Tuesday at 9 p.m. time period. Another sitcom is "Big Day," which will start in its time slot on November 28.