• by Wayne Friedman , October 27, 2010

The debut of big NBA star LeBron James with the Miami Heat took TNT to the best ratings ever for a regular-season game.

The opening game of the NBA season for TNT -- Miami Heat-Boston Celtics -- earned 7.4 million viewers, topping a record that stood for 14 years when the Chicago Bulls -- and Michael Jordan -- played the Los Angeles Lakers in 1996.

The game was also some 75% better than last year's opening night game.

The second part of TNT's big opening-night doubleheader featured the Houston Rockets-Los Angeles Lakers, which got to about half of the first game's results: 3.7 million viewers. The entire night gave TNT its best NBA opening night in almost 30 years of airing the league's games.

Looking at the broadcast networks, Fox regained its big status with "Glee," back with fresh programming on Tuesday night. The big Fox show pulled down a Nielsen preliminary 4.8 rating/13 share among 18-49 viewers, up a bit from its last original episode. Fox's other bit of good news this year -- "Raising Hope" -- delivered a solid 2.5/6 rating.

Fox posted an average 3.7/10 on the night -- two full ratings points more than a week ago. CBS was in second, drifting back to a 3.3/9, down from a 3.6 the week before.

CBS' later-night dramas were pinched a bit -- "NCIS: Los Angeles" at 9 p.m was down to a 3.4/9 from a 3.9 rating the week before; "The Good Wife" at 10 p.m. was at a 2.4/7, off two-tenths from a 2.6 the previous week. Still, CBS won both time periods. At 8 p.m. "NCIS" gave the network its best results, with a 4.1/11 down a bit from the week before when it had a 4.2 rating.

ABC was in third place -- at a 2.4/6, the same levels as a week ago. "Dancing with the Stars: Results" took in a 3.0/8, down a tick from a week ago. Better news came from its 10 p.m. drama "Detroit 1-8-7", which rose one-tenth of a rating point to a 2.0/6, good for a tie for second place with NBC's "Parenthood."

NBC was just a bit behind ABC, at a 2.3/6. Its "Biggest Loser" franchise was at the same levels -- a 2.2/6 for its 8 p.m. hour, and a 2.6/7 for its 9 p.m. hour -- as the previous week.

Univision continued to show growth, up to a 1.9/5 from a 1.7 rating it earned on the previous Tuesday. Its "Soy Tu Duena" improved to a 2.4/6 from a 2.2. The show pulled in 5.5 million overall viewers.

CW, in repeats of "One Tree Hill" and "Life Unexpected" was at a 0.5/1, down from a 0.8 rating the week before.