• by Wayne Friedman , January 24, 2008

"American Idol" still dominated on its third outing of the season--even against lower ratings comparisons versus a year ago.

With "Idol," Fox conquered another Tuesday night; it more than doubled the number of viewers of its nearest network, NBC.

"Idol" notched a Nielsen preliminary 11.7 rating/29 share among 18-49 viewers, down 10% versus its third episode of a year ago. This was a smaller rating drop than the 15% and 19% respective slips of the first two nights of the season, which started last week. Fox even rang up good numbers from a "House" repeat at 9 p.m.--which followed "Idol," earning a 5.1/12.

NBC's "Biggest Loser" which runs up against "Idol," did a bit better against the talent-show heavyweight this week, earning a 2.9 rating in its first hour, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. and a 3.7/9 overall. At 10 p.m., NBC continued its winning ways with "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" coming in first place in the time period with a 4.6/12.

CBS took off the night from fictional original programming with reruns of "NCIS" at a 2.1/5, and "The Unit" at 1.9/5. At 10 p.m., CBS earned a 2.0/5 with a new edition of news magazine show "48 Hours Mystery."

ABC struggled more than CBS, with "Just For Laughs" earning a 1.4/4; "According to Jim" at 2.2/5; "Carpoolers" earning a 1.7/4; and "Boston Legal" at 2.2/6.

CW only offered a repeat of "Reaper" with a 0.6/1 against "Idol" at 8 p.m. But it doubled its 18-49 viewership at 9 p.m. with an original "One Tree Hill" and a 1.3/3 among 18-49 viewers.

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 8.4/20; NBC, 4.0/10; CBS, 2.0/5; ABC, 1.8/5; Univision, 1.8/4; CW, 1.0/2.