Weekly Ratings: 1/12 – 1/16

Monday Ratings: Big Night for CBS; Bauer Holds Steady

A new year and a new week mean new highs — for CBS' Monday night lineup, at least. The highlights:

8 pm/ET
24 edged CBS for the hour with around 12 million (on par with Sunday's outing), but it got some stiff competition from the robot-tastic Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother, both of which soared to yet another series-high for the former (11.81 million) and a season-high for the latter (11.8 million). Next week, House joins in on the 8 pm match-up.

9 pm/ET
Two and a Half Men left Jack Bauer & Co. in the dust with 17.1 million eyeballs, about 5 million more than 24.

10 pm/ET
CSI: Miami dominated as usual with 15.7 million.

Tuesday Ratings: Idol Premiere Dips Opposite CBS' Double Whammy

8 pm/ET
Opposite CBS' surging NCIS and Mentalist, American Idol's Season 8 debuted to an audience of 30.08 million total viewers, a 10 percent dip from its year-ago opener. While NCIS only dropped three percent versus the Fox juggernaut, delivering 18.48 mil, others weren't so lucky. The Biggest Loser (8.76 mil) lost 26 percent of its strong premiere audience, while 90210 (2.18 mil) slid 21 percent.

9 pm
With Idol in the mix, The Mentalist saw a drop of eight percent, to 18 mil. Trailing Loser, Scrubs (4.48 mil) and Privileged (1.13 mil) both plunged 34 percent.

10 pm
Without a Trace topped the hour with 12.4 million viewers, while SVU (9.66 mil, down nine percent) led the demos.

Wednesday Ratings: What Did Idol Do for the First Time in Five Years?

8 pm/ET
American Idol drew 30 million total viewers, marking the first time in five years that the juggernaut's first Wednesday outing has retained 100 percent of a Tuesday premiere audience. CBS' combo of Christine (7.72 mil) and Gary (7.08 mil) placed second, each dipping only slightly. Knight Rider (5.34 mil) dropped off 360K, while the CW's 13 Fear Is Real (1.57 mil) plunged 35 percent from its debut. Lost's recap special averaged 4.49 mil across the night.

9 pm
Opposite Idol, Criminal Minds returned to an audience of 14.05 million viewers, down six percent from its last fresh outing.

10 pm
CSI: NY led with 12.84 million viewers, followed by Law & Order (8.2 mil, down 19 percent from its previous and competition-free episode).

Thursday Ratings: Grissom Walks Away from 24.25 Million People

8 pm/ET
While all the majors accommodated President Bush's farewell address, Smallville delivered 4.27 million total viewers, a slight uptick from its last fresh episode and its biggest audience since Nov. 6.

9 pm
Grissom's goodbye was watched by 24.25 million viewers, a 12 percent increase over CSI's last fresh episode and the procedural's largest audience since its 2007 season opener. Grey's Anatomy dipped six percent to fall shy of 13 mil. Placing third, The Office (8.35 mil) was down 450K while 30 Rock (6.6 mil) surged 26 percent. Supernatural, at 2.96 mil, slipped 11 percent from its last new episode.

10 pm
Eleventh Hour did 15.5 mil, followed by Private Practice (8.66 mil, down 370 thou). ER dipped a bit to drop below seven mil.

Friday Ratings: Is Friday Night Lights Back in the Game?

8 pm/ET
Ghost Whisperer topped the hour, holding steady at 10.52 million total viewers. Howie Do It placed second with 6.06 mil, plunging 21 percent from its premiere.

9 pm
CBS' Flashpoint inched up to 10.38 million viewers, a new series high. Nipping at the heels of Don't Forget the Lyrics (4.84 mil), Friday Night Lights' return to NBC (following a run on DirecTV) was watched by 4.54 million. That's an improvement on time-slot predecessor Lipstick Jungle's numbers, but a 13 percent dip from the high school drama's Season 2 finale.

Now, what does that all mean? When asked at this week's TCA press tour about the fate of such fence-riders as FNL, Chuck and Life, NBC Entertainment president Angela Bromstad said, "We live in a world where we have to have both — we have to have the quality and we have to have the ratings. [We] won't replace shows that are loved by fans and that are good, quality shows just for the sake of putting another show on."

10 pm
Numbers was the night's most watched program, with an audience of 10.83 million (up 750 thou). 20/20 (6.16 mil) dropped 22 percent week-to-week, while Dateline (5.57 mil) gained 700K.