• by Wayne Friedman , March 15, 2007

Fox is in pursuit of another 18-49 crown, and its "American Idol" is leading the charge. Its ratings are pounding the competition. Fox sees green; the other nets see red.

Tuesdays ratings for "Idol" got the network just a bit closer in taking the lead for the season among 18-49 viewers; it's now tied with CBS in that demo. "Idol" did its usual mauling of the network schedule on Tuesday night, with a big Nielsen 11.7 rating/31 share among 18-49 viewers for a two-hour 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. special program.

The underbelly, however, shows that "Idol" was actually down 15% versus the same episode a year ago. Blame the three-week earlier-than-usual change to daylight savings time, which may have kept people outdoors in the early evening.

Other networks again retreated on the night, airing a plethora of reruns, saving their original efforts for other nights or the next sweeps period. The typical "Idol" MO continues: It beats all the collective ratings and shares of the other nets.

The next-highest-rated show for the evening was CBS' "CSI," with a 3.0/8. Then NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" with a 2.5/7 in 18-49, just edging out CBS' "NCIS" with its 2.4/7. Other non-"Idol" shows scored a 2.0 rating or less.

The other major story was for CW, with its second week of "Pussycat Dolls Presents: The Search for the Next Doll." It earned a 1.1/3 in 18-49 viewers--but more importantly, took in a 1.7/5 among its key ad selling demo: 12-34. That was good enough for a second-place finish in the demo to "Idol."

Ratings averages among 18-49 viewers for the night were: Fox, 11.7/31; CBS, 2.5/7; NBC, 2.1/6; Univision, 1.7/5; ABC, 1.6/4; and CW, 0.9/3.