The return of American Idol‘s Hollywood Week meant the return of boffo ratings for FOX.

8pm

• About 29.9 million saw instruments introduced on American Idol (12.3/29 in 18-49).
• NCIS* (11.7 million, 2.3/6) grew by almost 3 million from last week.
• The Biggest Loser (7.5 million, 3.0/7) lost 500,000 on the viewer scale.
• Just for Laughs (1.4/3) entertained just 4.9 million.
• Reaper* (2 million, 0.8/2) maintained last Tuesday’s numbers.

9pm

• The premiere of Big Brother (7.3 million, 2.7/6 in 18-49) fell behind its reality competitors.
• According to Jim (4.9 million, 1.4/3) kept its lead-in numbers; Carpoolers (3.9 million, 1.3/3) dropped off by a million.
• One Tree Hill (3.2 million, 1.4/3) improved by 400,000.

10pm

• A repeat of Law and Order: SVU* (8.3 million, 2.6/7 in 18-49) was the winner of its hour.
• Boston Legal (7.23 million, 1.8/5) fought a close battle for 2nd place.
• Jericho (7.15 million, 2.5/7) returned only to find itself last in its time slot.

*denotes repeat

(You can review last Tuesday’s numbers here.)