• by Wayne Friedman , February 23, 2007

Fox's "American Idol" claimed another victim--crushing newbie "Jericho" from CBS.

"Idol" took out "Jericho"--as well as everyone else in the 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. hour, as most shows didn't rise past a 2.4 rating. "Jericho" was down almost 30% among 18-49 viewers from its seasonal average--though it registered a second-place time-period victory.

Fox easily won the evening with "Idol," at a 12.3/31--brushing aside the competition and beating all networks in 18-49 ratings combined. Still, good news for CBS--it hung on for a slender second-place victory for the night with a 3.3 rating/8.4 share--just over ABC's 3.3/8.3.

In the highly competitive 10 p.m. time period, "CSI: NY" kept its same relative pace to ABC's "Lost" of a week ago. "CSI" got 3.9/10 numbers to the "Lost" time period leading 5.7/15, which was up a tick versus the week before.

NBC was a distant fourth at a 2.1/5 for the evening. Its best effort was "Medium" at a 2.4/6. Its freshman series "Friday Night Lights" continued to suffer at a 1.7/5.

CW took in a 1.4/3 for the night with "One Tree Hill" getting a 1.4/3 rating at 9 p.m.