• by Wayne Friedman , March 10, 2008

New network shows continue to get the gloomy treatment from viewers.

Now it's Fox's turn with "New Amsterdam" on Thursday night, which sank to a 3.5 rating among 18-49 viewers--down some 22% from its 4.6 rating when it premiered behind "American Idol" on Tuesday.

"Amsterdam" got slightly fewer "Idol" viewers on Thursday. Then again, "Idol" was also a bit down with its results show, to a 9.4/24 from a 10.6/26 on Tuesday. Still, "Idol" was up versus a week ago Thursday, when it earned a 9.1/24. Overall, Fox still won the night handily at a 6.5/16. But it was down a bit versus last week's 7.2/18.

ABC ran second on the night with a 3.3/8. Its lead dog, "Lost," posted a 5.4/13--identical numbers for its outing the week before. Its 10 p.m. new show "Eli Stone" continued to be a modest performer this week with a 2.4/7, which tied for the time period lead. The only drawback was that it tied with a CBS repeat, "Without A Trace."

CBS lost a bit of steam to a 3.0/8 on the night. But as it does so well, it did it without spending any money on original programming-- airing for two of its three hours, as "CSI" and "Trace" were in repeats. "Survivor: Micronesia" dropped some to a 4.0/10 from a 4.2/11 the week before.

NBC saw slight improvement this week to a 2.5/7. "Celebrity Apprentice" was up in the 9 p.m. time slot to a 3.5/8 from a 3.1/8 the week before. A week ago, "Apprentice" was up against a strong Fox show "Don't Forget the Lyrics," which earned a top 5.2/13. NBC's 10 p.m. show "Lipstick Jungle" slipped a bit this week to a 2.3/6 from a 2.5/7 the week before.

CW, with reruns of "Smallville and "Reaper," had a 0.8/2 on the night --narrowly beating out MyNetworkTV's "Sister Act 2" movie, which posted a 0.7/2.