Third 'Idol's' a Charm for FOX Wednesday
(Thursday, February 24 08:01 AM)
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Fast National ratings for Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2005

Wednesday marked third straight night of "American Idol" on FOX this week. And for the third straight night, the network walked away with a ratings win.

FOX averaged a 10.5 rating/18 share for the night, beating the 7.9/12 for No. 2 ABC. CBS, 7.6/12, and NBC, 7.0/11, were not far behind. The WB took fifth with a 2.3/3, edging out the 2.0/3 for UPN.

Among adults 18-49, FOX's 7.5 rating led the field by a substantial margin. ABC finished second in the demographic with a 5.0, followed by CBS at 3.5 and NBC at 3.0. The WB averaged 1.5 and UPN 1.2.

"Lost," 11.9/18, provided the best results of ABC's night at 8 p.m. CBS was second for the hour with "60 Minutes," 6.8/10. "That '70s Show," 5.4/8, and "The Simple Life 3," 5.6/8, put FOX in third. NBC went with a rerun of "Crossing Jordan" and came in fourth. "Smallville" posted a 3.1/5 for The WB, a point better than "The Road to Stardom" on UPN.

FOX dominated at 9 p.m. with the first "American Idol" results show of the season, drawing a 15.6/23. CBS held onto second place with "The King of Queens," 7.0/10, and "Yes, Dear," 6.7/10. NBC moved up one spot to third with "The West Wing," 6.6/10. ABC's "Alias" dropped way off from its lead-in, finishing at 6.2/9. UPN's "Kevin Hill," 1.9/3, was fifth, beating "Jack & Bobby" on The WB.

At 10 p.m., NBC's "Law & Order," 9.5/15, pulled out a win over CBS' "CSI: NY," 9.1/15. "Wife Swap" came in at 5.7/9 for ABC.

Ratings information is taken from fast national data. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change.

Lost was the highest rated show in the 8:00 slot. cool!

Lost was the highest rated show in* the 8:00 slot. cool!


It went up from last week.

That's an understatement, Kosh. It went up quite a bit. Last week, Outlaws was an 11.0/17. and the weeks prior were: Homecoming (11.6/18), Special (11.8/18), and Hearts & Minds (12.6/19). This means that ...In Translation was the highest rated episode since January, and the I think the 3rd highest rated episode period (Whatever the Case May Be and Hearts & Minds are the only ones higher, I believe, I forget the ratings on Pilot I and Pilot II). This is exactly the uptick I was hoping we'd see after the solidity of Outlaws. Hopefully, it'll up again to the 12.5/19 area for Numbers, which should mean even bigger numbers for Deus Ex Machina (or is it Deux) when it shows up in April. A rise of .9 in the rating should mean about 1.5-1.8 million more viewers from last week, I'd guess. Great news all around. :)

Alias dropped moderately from last week (6.9/10 then), but it's interesting how this is a considered a steep drop from Lost, compared to the usual "all's well". I'd suggest that Alias holding a 10 share pretty consistently means it's doing OK, though the viewer bleedoff is there.

And a quick note, I don't think a first run episode of Lost has ever lost the 8PM hour. :) That's the best news of all.

And a quick note, I don't think a first run episode of Lost has ever lost the 8PM hour. :) That's the best news of all.


That is EXCELLENT news!! ;D

way cool!!! LOST is holding the 8 pm time slot... woo hoo!!!

way cool!!! LOST is holding the 8 pm time slot... woo hoo!!!


Yo Diablita, your "Warning" signature is great, that describes me perfectly ;) Where the bleep are our Avi's? Site being updated or something?

That's an understatement, Kosh. It went up quite a bit. Last week, Outlaws was an 11.0/17. and the weeks prior were: Homecoming (11.6/18), Special (11.8/18), and Hearts & Minds (12.6/19). This means that ...In Translation was the highest rated episode since January, and the I think the 3rd highest rated episode period (Whatever the Case May Be and Hearts & Minds are the only ones higher, I believe, I forget the ratings on Pilot I and Pilot II). This is exactly the uptick I was hoping we'd see after the solidity of Outlaws. Hopefully, it'll up again to the 12.5/19 area for Numbers, which should mean even bigger numbers for Deus Ex Machina (or is it Deux) when it shows up in April. A rise of .9 in the rating should mean about 1.5-1.8 million more viewers from last week, I'd guess. Great news all around. :)

Alias dropped moderately from last week (6.9/10 then), but it's interesting how this is a considered a steep drop from Lost, compared to the usual "all's well". I'd suggest that Alias holding a 10 share pretty consistently means it's doing OK, though the viewer bleedoff is there.

And a quick note, I don't think a first run episode of Lost has ever lost the 8PM hour. :) That's the best news of all.


You just proved that I know absolutly nothing about ratings. :)

Alias dropped moderately from last week (6.9/10 then), but it's interesting how this is a considered a steep drop from Lost, compared to the usual "all's well". I'd suggest that Alias holding a 10 share pretty consistently means it's doing OK, though the viewer bleedoff is there.

And a quick note, I don't think a first run episode of Lost has ever lost the 8PM hour. :) That's the best news of all.


To me, the biggest news is that the American Idol juggernaut ditches its usual 8pm slot for its result show (which would have gone head-to-head with Lost) and instead chooses to go against Alias.

That is great news :)...although often times a .9 drop or rise one way or the other in ratings can not logically be explained. Sometimes it's something about that particular night...Lost has been fairly steady throughout...it's in no danger or dropping steeply.

It HAS lost the 8 pm time-slot before though...but no significant drop in ratings. There was just something on that night that had even higher ratings. Once was "White Rabbit" when it aired against some sporting event...and the other time was "Special" because it aired against American Idol at 8pm...(at least I'm pretty sure it was "Special", but around there anyway)

It HAS lost the 8 pm time-slot before though...but no significant drop in ratings. There was just something on that night that had even higher ratings. Once was "White Rabbit" when it aired against some sporting event...and the other time was "Special" because it aired against American Idol at 8pm...(at least I'm pretty sure it was "Special", but around there anyway)

Ah, true. But, since I never count American Idol or sporting events when I look, I must have blocked that out of my mind. Reality and sporting events just aren't shows to me.

It HAS lost the 8 pm time-slot before though...but no significant drop in ratings. There was just something on that night that had even higher ratings. Once was "White Rabbit" when it aired against some sporting event...and the other time was "Special" because it aired against American Idol at 8pm...(at least I'm pretty sure it was "Special", but around there anyway)


Ah, I think you're right...I remember something now...some mini-series about some type of natural disaster, or something? *can't quite remember*

The viewer estimate is 19.49 million, up from the 17.88 million Outlaws got http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/newsletters/proginsider/index.jsp

So much for the theory that Lost is losing viewers because it's not solving island mysteries fast enough. 5 of the 6 January episodes have been the most-watched of the show so far, and Outlaws' viewership was in line with what the show was getting last fall.


Excellent! Good to know we're holding steady, or even climbing, in the ratings (what with the networks thinking so highly of them, and all... ;) )

Ah, I think you're right...I remember something now...some mini-series about some type of natural disaster, or something?* *can't quite remember*


I think you're thinking of an earthquake miniseries on CBS which got really good ratings...9.0 or something like that? BUT if I recall correctly it didn't manage to unseat Lost from the 8pm timeslot...it was close though...and then dominated at 9pm...

Lost seems to be the type of show that has a consistent audience. When it ran against American Idol (although it didn't managed to beat it) it still didn't lose any of its audience. I think it's the type of show where the audience tunes in regardless of what else it on because they're really loyal and they're addicted! ;)

dude, what happened to alias??? :-[