• by Wayne Friedman , February 25, 2008

A special "American Idol" grabbed Fox a special Thursday night win--but the heavyweight show was off its usual early week double-digit ratings efforts.

Still, "Idol" struck a healthy 8.5 rating/22 share at 8 p.m. Standing in the show's way was the usual 8 p.m. Thursday champion, "Survivor." This year's version, "Survivor: Micronesia," grabbed a 4.1/10--down a bit from its 4.5 rating of a week before. Other networks went hiding at 8 p.m., looking to get out of the way of two big shows.

At 9 p.m., "Lost" took a victory with a 5.7/13 over second-place Fox's "Don't Forget the Lyrics," which earned a season-high 4.8/11--all thanks to a big lead-out from "Idol." NBC's posted its best-rated show of the evening with "Celebrity Apprentice," which earned a 3.2/8 at 9 p.m.

Ten o'clock mid-season shows, ABC's "Eli Stone" got a 2.5/7 and NBC's "Lipstick Jungle" earned a 2.4/6, but couldn't compete with a CBS repeat of "Without a Trace."

CW went with an original "Supernatural" at 9 p.m. and a repeat of the show at 8 p.m., grabbing a 1.3/3 for the new episode and a 1/3 for the repeat.

Overall, Fox grabbed a 6.6/16 for the night among 18-49 viewers. CBS was next, with a 3.4/8; ABC was just behind with a 3.3/8; NBC was in fourth place, at 2.5/6; CW went to a 1.2/3; and MyNetworkTV had a 0.6/1.