• by Wayne Friedman , July 16, 2007

Fox's "Don't Forget The Lyrics" might have forgotten how important a lead-in program is.

It earned a 3.4 rating among 18-49 viewers earlier this week, and dipped a bit to a Nielsen 2.9 rating/10 share. The show followed "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" which earned a 2.2/8. The good news for "Lyrics," the half-hour reality karaoke competition show that ran at 8:30 p.m., is that it improved on the numbers of "5th Grader" as well as besting CBS' "Big Brother," which came in with a 2.2/8.

The other reality show in contention on Thursday has been summer leader "So You Think You Can Dance?," which offered a 3.6/11, at around its seasonal average.

Fox's three original episode reality shows led the way for the evening for the network with a 3.1/10. CBS was next with a 2.2/7. But its original episode, "Big Brother," wasn't its best performer. This went to a repeat of "CSI" at 9 p.m., which grabbed a 2.3/7.

NBC was next with a 1.6/5; ABC had a 1.1/4; and CW pulled in with a 0.7/2.3. MyNetworkTV with the movie "Hotel Rwanda" was just behind CW with a 0.6/2.0.