TVSquad

Well, looks like all the hype and critical acclaim for Pushing Daisies worked. The show was not only the highest-rated new show in the 8pm slot this season, it was the third highest-rated new show of the year, period, right after Bionic Woman and Private Practice (this rating includes live viewing plus DVR stats).

On the night, ABC was the big winner (number one in 18-49 and households) with their lineup of Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, and Dirty Sexy Money. CBS was next (number two in households and 18-49) with Kid Nation, Criminal Minds, and CSI: NY. NBC was a close third (both 18-49 and households) with Deal Or No Deal, Bionic Woman, and Life. FOX was next (fourth in both) with Back To You, 'Til Death, and Kitchen Nightmares. And The CW was fifth, as always (in both categories), with America's Next Top Model and Gossip Girl.

Bionic Woman dropped around 30% from its debut and Life was down 28% from it's debut. Ouch.

Even though ABC won the first Wednesday battle of the new season with their lineup of Dancing with the Stars, Grey's Anatomy spinoff Private Practice, and Dirty Sexy Money, NBC's Bionic Woman took a little bite out of the celebration.

The debut of the NBC remake actually gained viewers throughout the 9pm hour while Private Practice lost some, though it was a battle. Overall, NBC was second on the night with Deal or No Deal, Bionic Woman, and Life (which lost a lot of viewers halfway through). CBS was third with a new Kid Nation and the season premieres of Criminal Minds and CSI: NY. FOX was fourth with new eps of Back To You, 'Til Death, and Kitchen Nightmares. Bringing up the rear as usual was The CW, with new episodes of America's Next Top Model and Gossip Girl.

Click the link above for all the hour by hour numbers and stats by demographic.

Just when Lost should be regularly beating the competition - we're heading towards the three month break cliffhanger - the show is actually losing viewers. The episode the other night, where Eko was killed off, lost 1 million viewers from the previous week, and was beaten by CBS' Criminal Minds. (Brett talked about this last month.)

Wow, so 17 million viewers actually watch Criminal Minds? I've seen the show twice and didn't really see anything special about it. Are people that frustrated by Lost?

One part of the article I don't really understand though. It seems to have the attitude that the "a character is going to die" episodes of Lost should pull in more viewers, but why? How would you know that a character is going to die unless you actually watch the episode? The hardcore fans of the show and web geeks, the only ones who would know ahead of time that a death might be coming via web spoilers, they're watching the show anyway, so why would that matter? Why would a death of a major character bring a ratings spike? (Or am I totally missing the point here?)

The ratings for the return episode of Alias last Wednesday were actually up 20% from the previous episode back in December. But it still wasn't enough to make an impact that night, as American Idol, The Amazing Race, Unanimous and Bones did better. The first hour tied for 9th on the night, while the second hour was 8th.

But who cares? The show is ending anyway! Ha!

Last week's American Idol results show got over 25 million viewers. Meanwhile, over on ABC, Lost (an original episode, mind you) got only 15 million viewers. It was not only the lowest-rated new ep of the year, but it was down 28% from the average ratings for the season.

So, is this just a matter of American Idol being the juggernaut that it is, or is this a signal that Lost fans are getting impatient, frustrated, or (dare I say) bored?