• by Wayne Friedman , February 16, 2007

Hit the panic button in the hatch, or what's left of it: ABC's hit show "Lost" has slipped even more.

In its second week back from its mid-season outing, "Lost" dropped another 14% for a Nielsen 5.7 rating/15 share among 18-49 viewers. Still, it was a solid performance by any network standard--but down from last week's 6.5 rating and over a point-and-half ratings lower than its season's 7.3 average.

Chief culprit: The show's move to 10 p.m. from its 9 p.m. time slot.

Perhaps viewers didn't follow--or are waiting to playback their DVRs. Ironically, the move to 10 p.m. was to get out of the way of the Fox network program-wrecking crew of "American Idol." Instead, it seems to have fallen into more trouble.

Other "Lost" problems, according to TV critics, are that some plot lines take forever to resolve: Jack being held captive by "The Others." Or long stretches where the original castaways haven't been in the story lines.

All this has given competitor CBS' "CSI: New York," which airs in the former "Lost" 10 p.m. spot, something to crow about. It touts higher total viewers--around 14.8 million versus the "Lost" 12.8 million. Still, "Lost" retains the best 18-49 ratings for the time period. "CSI: New York" was No. 2 with a 4.5/12.

Earlier in the evening, it was Fox's "Idol" that dominated, doing its usual industry-leading numbers, a still sky-high 12.2/29 among 18-49 viewers. Fox also started off the night well, with a 4.1/11 for "Bones" that won the time period.

Fox was easily first for the night, with an 8.2 rating/21 share. CBS was a distant second at 3.5/9; ABC was next at 3.3/9. Then came NBC, at 2.7/7; Univision at a 1.6/4; and CW right behind with a 1.5/4.

CW's' "Beauty and the Geek" finale did its best numbers in adults 18-34 (2.4), adults 18-49 (1.9) and viewers (4.2 million).