The addition of a 4th judge didn’t help American Idol‘s ratings last night. The series saw its lowest demo number for a premiere; it also had its smallest audience for an opener since 2004. But bad news is always relative. The show was still the hottest ticket so far this year. CBS’ programs, in the meantime, displayed remarkable strength despite increased competition.

8pm

• Approximately 30.1 million (11.7/28 in 18-49) saw American Idol‘s Phoenix auditions.
• NCIS (18.6 million, 3.7/9) only lost 500,000.
• The Biggest Loser: Couples (8.9 million, 3.3/8) gave up 2.9 million.
• Homeland Security USA (6 million, 1.8/5) let 1.8 million go.
• 90210 (2.2 million, 1.1/3) slid by 21%.

9pm

• The Mentalist (3.8/9 in 18-49) brought in 18.1 million.
• Scrubs (4.5 million, 2.2/5) dropped by 2.2 million.
• Privileged (1.1 million, 0.5/1) was off by 34%.

10pm

• Without a Trace (12.4 million, 2.9/7 in 18-49) sliced off 800,000.
• Law & Order: SVU (9.7 million, 3.6/9) gave up 1 million.
• Primetime: What Would You Do? (7.3 million, 2.8/7) picked up 300,000.

*denotes repeat

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