• by Wayne Friedman , April 10, 2008

Maybe Simon or those singer/contestants are too nice, as the biggest-rated TV "American Idol" slipped again to a season low on Tuesday. "Idol" went under the 9 rating mark for viewers 18-49, marking an 8.9 Nielsen preliminary rating at 8 p.m. Still, the show and Fox dominated Tuesday night. On the coattails of "Idol," "Hell's Kitchen" at 9 p.m. grabbed a heavy-duty 5.4 rating.

Overall, Fox more than doubled the number of second-place finisher NBC. Fox took a 7.2 rating/18 share; NBC earned a 3.4/9.

NBC's second hour of "The Biggest Loser" at 9 p.m. showed strength--growing from a week ago and giving the network its best numbers of the night with a 4.3 rating. "Loser" had more viewers than ABC's usually strong "Dancing With The Stars." The first hour had "Loser" at a still-respectable 3.1 number.

CBS debuted a new reality show at 10 p.m., "Secret Talents of the Stars," only to find the reality of a fourth-place time-period finish --a 1.5 rating, barely above Univision's 1.3 for "Aqui y Ahora."

"Talents," which shows off celebrities singing and dancing, had numbers that were lower in the time period than CBS' two previous efforts--"Cane," which debuted in the fall, and "Jericho," which came on mid-season (and then made a second exit from the network's schedule). CBS ended the frame with 2.3/6.

ABC did a bit better than CBS--but not by much, ending with a 2.4/6 for the night. Its best came from "Dancing with the Stars" with a lower-than-usual 3.5 number. The network's 8 p.m. reality comedy effort, "Just for Laughs," continued with low-volume chuckles at a 1.4 rating.

CW had a 0.8 for "Beauty and the Geek" and a 0.6 for a repeat of "Reaper." It ended the night at a 0.7/2.