• by Wayne Friedman , February 28, 2008

Unfortunately, NBC's "Quarterlife" delivered as billed--and then some. The highly touted Internet show sank some 33% lower in adult 18-49 viewers than a repeat of "Law & Order: SVU," which aired in the same time period the week before.

"Quarterlife" earned a 1.3 rating/4 share among 18-49 viewers, against "L&O"'s 3.3/9. An MTV preview of the show earlier in the day didn't seem to help NBC's "Quarterlife" premiere.

The plugged show, which came from popular Internet destination MySpace, couldn't compete with more broad-based TV shows--CBS' "Jericho" and a "Primetime" hidden-camera special on ABC. Those shows earned a 2.2/6 and a 2.9/8, respectively. "Jericho" actually improved from 2.0/5 from its previous week.

As far as Tuesday night's young-skewing shows are concerned, "One Tree Hill" on CW outpaced "Quarterlife" in terms of ratings, with a 1.4 number among 18-49 viewers and overall viewers (3.18 million to 3.130 million). "Hill" was up against much tougher competition at 9 p.m.--"American Idol."

As usual, Fox's "Idol" cruised for an hour-and-a-half--8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., with an 11.1/27. Looking to give its flagging rookie sitcom a bit of a lift. "Back To You" picked up its pace a bit, following those big "Idol" numbers, with a 4.4/11.

A couple of big shows went in opposite directions versus the week before: CBS' "Big Brother 9" improved to a 2.6/6 from a 1.9/4 the week before. But NBC's "Biggest Loser" lost ground, down to a 2.9/7 from a 3.3/8 the previous week.

Fox earned a 9.4/23 among 18-49 viewers for the evening. NBC pulled through with a distant second-place finish, at 2.4/6. CBS almost tied NBC, with a 2.3/6. ABC was at a 1.8/5; the CW earned a 1.1/3; and MNTV was at about half of the CW's results, with a 0.6/2.