• by Wayne Friedman , February 10, 2010

The start of Ellen DeGeneres' reign on "American Idol" -- as well as the start of Hollywood Week for the show -- lifted the program's already high ratings.

The preliminary "Idol" Nielsen ratings had its best results since the show's season premiere: a 10.1 rating/26 share among 18-49 viewers.

The show was also up 1% among 18-49 viewers for the start of Hollywood Week versus the same week a year ago. Better news came from year-to-year comparisons among total viewers, with a 4% improvement to an average 27.7 million shares. Teen viewers climbed 8%.

Though "Idol" was strong, Fox's "Past Life," running after "Idol" at 9 p.m., looked somewhat weaker for its premiere, reaching a 3.1/8 rating -- about one-third of what "Idol" brought to the table.

The second-best-rated show of the night, ABC's "Lost" at 9 p.m., drifted 11% off its season premiere to a still-strong 4.9/12. ABC's 10 p.m. show "the forgotten" improved to a 2.0/6, no doubt due to some of that strong "Lost" lead-in.

CBS rolled along with its usual double-dosing of "NCIS" -- the original show getting to a solid 4.1/11 and "NCIS: Los Angeles" nearly matching that with a 4.0/10, its best outing since its premiere. "The Good Wife" at 10 p.m. won the time period with a 3.0/9.

NBC was steady with its two-hour "Biggest Loser" averaging a 3.5/9, and "Jay Leno," at its prime-time finale, a 1.8/5.

The CW went to repeats of "90210" (0.4/1) and "Melrose Place" (0.3/1) for the 18-49 crowd.

For the night, Fox averaged a 6.6/16 for 18-49 viewers, followed by CBS at a 3.8/10; NBC, 3.0/8; ABC, 2.9/7; Univision, 1.6/4; and CW 0.3/1.