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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Wed., Jan. 28) -- Fox again frolics (updated with extended morning news numbers)

By ED BARK
Luxuriating in the bosom of an American Idol lead-in, Fox's second episode of Lie to Me knocked off ABC's Lost in head-to-head competition Wednesday night.

Lost also fell short of the audience for CBS' competing Criminal Minds in both total D-FW viewers and advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds.

Idol's Salt Lake City audition round piled up 631,085 viewers in surpassing the total audience for 7 p.m. programming on ABC, CBS and NBC. The CBS' lineup included a half-hour prime-time edition of Katie Couric's CBS Evening News, which had 119,574 viewers from 7 to 7:30 p.m. in beating the first half-hour of a Lost recap (79,608 viewers).

Lie to Me then held 358,722 viewers to comfortably win at 8 p.m. opposite Criminal Minds (279,006 viewers), a new Lost (205,933 viewers) and NBC's Law & Order: SVU repeat (126,217 viewers).

ABC's return of the freshman series Life On Mars dipped to 179,361 viewers in the 9 p.m. hour to finish third ahead of Fox4's 9 p.m. local newscast (159,432 viewers). But Mars fell to fourth place among 18-to-49-year-olds. CBS' CSI: NY as usual led the 9 p.m. pack in both ratings measurements.

In the local news derby, WFAA8 again rolled to comfortable wins at 10 p.m. in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the preferred advertiser target audience for news programming.

WFAA8 also ran the table at 6 p.m. and recorded a lately rare win at 6 a.m. among 25-to-54-year-olds. Fox4 had the 6 a.m. edge in total viewers.

Fox4 and NBC5 tied for first place at 5 p.m. in total viewers, with the Peacock owning the lone gold with 25-to-54-year-olds.

Also of note: NBC5, WFAA8 and CBS11 all extended their ice storm-infused morning shows until 10 a.m. or beyond while Fox4 mostly yielded to Live With Regis & Kelly at 9 a.m. There was a ratings price to pay for that. Here's a telescoped look at the 7 to 9 a.m. and 9 to 10 a.m. total viewers Nielsens:

7 to 9 A.M.

Fox4 news -- 272,363
NBC5 news -- 245,791
WFAA8 news -- 205,933
CBS11 news -- 99,645

9 to 10 A.M.

NBC5 news -- 338,793
WFAA8 news -- 192,647
Live with Regis & Kelly -- 159,432
CBS11 news -- 139,503

NBC5 also scored big among 25-to-54-year-olds between 7 and 10 a.m., ballooning to 230,683 viewers in that age range in the 9 a.m. hour. That was more than twice as many viewers as runnerup WFAA8, which drew 106,236 viewers in 25-to-54 demographic from 9 to 10 a.m.
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