The hits just keep on coming for "Lost."

ABC drama appears to lead the TV-on-Internet herd by a wide margin, drawing 2.5 million unique viewers in the month of February, according to the latest numbers from Nielsen Online. Those 2.5 million viewers initiated some 48 million streams of "Lost" episodes, clips and made-for-Web content a la the ultra-fun audio and video podcasts that showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse grace us with once a week (or thereabouts).

As much as I love writing "'Lost' is No. 1'," there's an important caveat to these numbers. Nielsen Online's monthly survey does not include numbers from Hulu, the NBC Universal-News Corp. joint venture. Hulu is on a tear these days, as readers of today's Daily Variety know from this page 1 story on Hulu climbing to No. 2 among online video providers behind only YouTube (which remains the equivalent of Wal-Mart, Microsoft, McDonalds and Toyota combined when it comes to online vid).

ABC.com ranks No. 6 among Internet vid providers for February with 187.1 million streams, up 14.5% from January. Hulu, on the back of its big marketing push, spiked 33% to 309 million streams. The average Hulu viewer spent 176.9 minutes watching its vid, compared to 104.8 minutes for ABC.com

So with that understanding, here's the rest of the top five online TV shows per Nielsen's report. They're mostly ABC shows, but that would likely change if only Hulu would cough up some show-specific numbers. Nielsen's report does include the individual websites of Hulu partners NBC and Fox, so there is some representation of their shows.

"Grey's Anatomy" -- 18.7 million streams/1.3 million unique viewers

"The Bachelor" -- 15.1 million streams/962,000 unique viewers

"The Office" -- 15 million streams

"Heroes" -- 11.7 million streams

Here’s a news flash: “Lost” is a hit online. But so is CW’s “Privileged.”

For the first time, Nielsen Online has released rankings for online streaming of episodes and clips.
“Lost” tops the chart for the month of December with 1.4 million unique viewers, followed by NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” with 1.1 million.

By the yardstick of the total time viewers spent with a show online, the surprise leader in December was CW’s “Privileged.” The rating-challenged dramedy drew only 29,000 unique viewers, but those that did tune in stuck around for an average of 214.6 minutes.

There’s a big caveat to these rankings, however, in that they don’t include shows streamed via Hulu because Hulu won’t breakout its numbers to Nielsen (at least if I'm reading Nielsen-ese right. A Nielsen Online rep would only say that Hulu is "not available in our syndication service.")

Nielsen’s survey includes the websites of Hulu partners NBC and Fox, as well as ABC, CBS and CW. But by all accounts, Hulu's vid streaming traffic has outpaced that of the Peacock and Fox nets' individual websites. The survey captures clips that are embedded on other websites and blogs, as long as the streams come from the network's proprietary player (but not Hulu's player).

No surprise here: The Obama interview pulled huge numbers for "60 Minutes" last night. The final figures are still being crunched, because CBS had a roughly 30-minute football overrun in East Coast markets.

But it looks like about 24.5 million people tuned in to Steve Kroft's sit-down with Barack and Michelle Obama, which amounts to the highest score for "60 Minutes" since January 1999.

The Obamas came off as remarkably relaxed, given everything that's transpired in the past two weeks. As always, Barack and Michelle exude love and respect for each other and their family in a way that is inspiring, touching and comforting. You want these qualities in a first family.

The seg, which was devoted to the interview other than the Andy Rooney bit at the end, had a healthy adults 18-49 aud (6.4 rating/16 share) and adults 25-54 (8.2/19), although those numbers are also subject to revision once the finals come in tomorrow.

For "60 Minutes," as important as the ratings harvest is the prestige that the Obamas have conferred by granting this coveted first major interview to the venerable granddaddy of TV newsmags. You can't go wrong by going with the Rolls-Royce of TV news, of course, but Kroft has also clearly earned the trust of the Obamas. He's covered Barack Obama extensively during the past few years, and he did an insightful profile of the then looooooong-shot candidate shortly after Obama announced his presidential bid in January 2007.

Good for Tina Fey. "30 Rock" was solid in its second outing of the season, indicating that the Emmy and biz darling is finally getting some traction.

Post-election euphoria for at least 52% of Americans probably didn't hurt (I'm convinced Fey-as-Sarah-Palin helped Obama defeat the GOP ticket), nor did a guest shot from Oprah Winfrey probably didn't hurt. "30 Rock" averaged 8.1 million viewers and 3.9 rating/9 share, according to prelim Nielsens. That's an even better retention out of "The Office" (8.4 mil, 4.2/10) than it managed last week in its third season preem.

Goodness knows, the Peacock needed some good ratings news after Wednesday's makeover went over like a lead balloon. "Knight Rider" slipping to a 1.6/4 in the demo, handicapping the rest of the night. The return of "Law & Order" (7.9 mil, 2.2/6) at 10 p.m. didn't do much to improve things, though it did seem to take a notable bite of the aud for CBS' competing "CSI: NY" (11.8 mil, 3.3/9).

Sunday update-update:

The ratings are in and they are gi-normous. (Good grief, don't let this be an omen for Nov. 4.) Sarah Palin's appearance pushed "Saturday Night Live" to its highest numbers in 14 years, since the show was hosted by another telegenic brunette thrust into the national spotlight, Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, on March 12, 1994.

"SNL" pulled a 10.7 rating/24 share in Nielsen's 56 overnight metered markets, which cover more than 70% of U.S. TV households. To put it in perspective, that number is 161% higher than the show's average last October, and 47% higher than last week's seg. It's lofty enough to make "SNL" the No. 3 program of last week, behind ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" and CBS' "CSI," on a household rating basis. (Final national viewer tally and demographic breakdown won't be available until Thursday.)

As I said below, Palin may not be bound for the Beltway next year but she will undoubtedly be in the market for a good TV agent come Nov. 5.

Sunday update:

OK. Gotta give Sarah Palin a few points for having a sense of humor, though I couldn't help but think "desperation time" while watching her two appearances on last night's "Saturday Night Live" (posted below), in the cold open and in the "Weekend Update" seg. Lorne Michaels (did Palin call him "Lauren"? -- it sure sounded like that to me) and Alec Baldwin played their parts perfectly (with a cool cameo from Mark Wahlberg to boot). Watching Palin and Fey pass each other was definitely worth the price of admission. And for the record, I would like to see the "30 Rock" sketch that Palin wrote. (Michaels flexed some self-depricating -deprecating muscle of his own in telling her "not enough people know that show.")

Can anyone explain why there's a life-size prop of a cow, or some other farm animal, in the background and Michaels and Palin are talking backstage? Is it part of a running gag, or maybe just a political commentary from "SNL's" prop master? After all, the hind end was pointed squarely at Palin.

If the polls keep going the way they're going, and the endorsements, a la Colin Powell's big news this ayem, keep going the Obama-Biden camp's way, I'm thinking Palin still gets her national platform -- a show on Fox News Channel or some other outlet. No matter what you think of her politics, you can't deny that the woman is telegenic, and she's already got her on-air signature -- her kitten-ish wink -- down pat.

Posted Saturday:

Sarah Palin's visit to "Saturday Night Live" tonight should make for a must-see vid clip, no matter what transpires.

The folks at Hulu are so charged up about the GOP veep nominee's potential to deliver the Super Bowl of viral vid (remember those debate ratings?) that on Friday they emailed out a "placeholder" link to the clip on their site. It should become real thing around 2 a.m. PST Sunday, after "SNL" airs on the West Coast.

Those Internet types, they think of everything.

Interesting to see the networks getting more aggressive about reporting their DVR numbers.

ABC today is touting "Grey's Anatomy" (pictured above) retaining its crown as the most-DVR'd show of the season so far. The medical drama's Sept. 25 season preem numbers (18.5 million viewers, 7.4 in 18-49) don't look so soft when you add in 2.7 million viewers and 1.3 demo rating points from DVR playback viewing in the week after the premiere telecast. (The premiere ratings are based on the new industry standard of Live-Plus-Same Day, which means the aud for the initial telecast plus those that watched it on the same day of the preem.)

ABC also reports that "Desperate Housewives," "Boston Legal" and "Brothers and Sisters" added 1 million viewers or more to their preem numbers through DVR viewing. "Grey's," "Boston Legal," "Ugly Betty" and "Brothers and Sisters" registered gains of 10% or more in the demo derby too, according to ABC.

CBS also sent out a bunch of info on its premiere week DVR ratings. "CSI: Miami," "NCIS," "The Mentalist" (pictured right), "Without a Trace," "Criminal Minds" and "Two and a Half Men" all padded their opening-night numbers by 1 million or more viewers.

The lag time in getting the DVR numbers out seems so incongruous in this era of non-stop, insta-information. But it's also true that success breeds success. A show that performs poorly in the old-fashioned overnights is not likely to turn the corner when the DVR numbers are factored in. But strong shows look even stronger when the ratings yardstick is stretched out to include the DVR aud.

Oh, to be in Nashville on Sunday.

CBS News' Bob Schieffer will be taking the stage at the Grand Ole Opry for the first time with his band, Honky Tonk Confidential. The Opry is hosting a special show Sunday evening in honor of the presidential debate to be held Tuesday at Nashville's Belmont U. That one will be moderated by NBC News' Tom Brokaw.

Schieffer gets his turn as a debate moderator on the third and final encounter between Barack Obama and John McCain on Oct. 15 at Hofstra U. in Hempstead, N.Y. On Sunday, Schieffer will be in good company on the Opry stage. He's landed the 8:10-8:15 p.m. slot, sandwiched between perfs by Tricia Yearwood and Brad Paisley.

Meanwhile, McCain and Obama will have their hands full trying to match the perf of their No. 2s last night. The Joe Biden-Sarah Palin debate drew a whopping 70 million viewers across the Big Four, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Fox News, BBC America and Telemundo. It also out-drew the first McCain-Obama match (52.4 million) by nearly 20 million.

The Biden-Palin aud included 35.7 million femmes and 30.4 million men of voting age, according to Nielsen. (Among the Big Three, ABC grabbed the most with 13.1 million, followed by 12.8 million on NBC and 11.1 million on CBS. Fox News registered its most-watched telecast ever with 11.1 million.)

The Biden-Palin bout easily out-rated the previous most-watched veep debate, Geraldine Ferraro-George Bush in 1984 (56.7 million), and the 2004 contest between John Edwards and Dick Cheney (43.6 million).

Rough debuts last night for NBC's "Knight Rider" and CBS' 8-9 p.m. comedy block of "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and Jay Mohr frosh "Gary Unmarried."

ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" stomped all over everything in the opening hour of primetime, drawing 15.6 million viewers and 3.5 rating/10 share in adults 18-49.

Peacock's remake of the '80s talking-car skein brought in 7.3 million viewers and 2.4 rating/7 share in adults 18-49. "Old Christine" (6.7 mil, 2.1/6) and "Gary Unmarried" (6.8 mil, 2.3/6) came in even lower.

President Bush didn't help things with his dour 15-minute address at 9 p.m. EST, pushing back the start times of the rest of the night. CBS' fortunes picked up with solid showings from the season openers of "Criminal Minds" and "CSI: NY" (reliable numbers for those shows won't be available until later today because of the delay).

Overall, CBS won the night in viewers and 18-49 by a solid margin, with ABC running second, even though the Alphabet didn't do much business with its two-hour David Blaine spesh.

Brainstorm! "The Mentalist" looked sharp for CBS in its debut Tuesday. If this keeps up, CBS might get a little relief on a night that has been tricky for the Eye in recent years.

"Mentalist," starring the ever-charming Simon Baker, opened to 15.5 million viewers and 3.5 rating/9 share in the adults 18-49 demo, per prelim Nielsens. The procedural from Warner Bros. TV and former "Rome" scribe Bruno Heller proved a thoughtful fit with 8 p.m.'s "NCIS." "Mentalist" held the bulk of of its "NCIS" lead-in (17.9 mil, 3.5/10) and hung tough against Fox's competing "Fringe" (9.7 mil, 4.2/10) in the demo.

The story wasn't so good at 10 p.m. for the debut of "Without a Trace" in its new time slot. "Trace" (11.4 mil, 2.8/7) let a lot of its "Mentalist" lead-in slip away, as the second hour of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" picked up steam. "Dancing" finished out with 18.2 mil and 4.7/12 in the demo.

Fox won the night in 18-49 on the strength of 8 p.m.'s "House" (12.1 mil, 4.9/14), which nonetheless is off its game from last season, but it may just be a case of the show settling into its new earlier time slot.

At the top of the night, ABC's new unscripted reality-game show "Opportunity Knocks" (6.6 mil, 1.8/5) was sluggish out of the gate, although viewership and its demo score picked up at the half-hour mark.

It was clear from the very first moments of the show, and now we have the quantitative ratings evidence that last night's Emmycast was a stinker. In adults 18-49, the show dropped 12% from last year, which was nothing to cheer about ratings-wise, to an average 3.8 rating/9 share, according to Nielsen prelims. All those stars and the Emmys couldn't even muster a 10 share? Wow.

In viewers, the three-hour ABC telecast averaged 12.2 million, down 6% from last year's 13.1 million. Viewership declined as the night went on and the most high-profile trophies were handed out. It peaked from 9-9:30 p.m. at 13.2 million, but by 10 p.m. it was down to 12.1 million, and by 10:30 it was 11.9 million. That's rejection folks.

With all due respect to Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Jeff Probst and Ryan Seacrest, the idea of using five reality show hosts was a stinker, as were most of the show's scripted bits. And as the night wore on, the producers' haste at playing winners off before they'd barely gotten on the stage in the effort not to go long made it all play even worse. There was much complaining about it back stage -- justifiably so.

Sure, there'll be a lot of pontificating about low ratings generated on a night when the big series winners are shows that are watched by teensy-tiny slivers of the viewing aud, NBC's "30 Rock" and AMC's "Mad Men." But anyone who was there or watched it live heard the whoosh of channels changing about six minutes into the telecast and that nonsensical bit from the five hosts having "nothing" prepared. Frankly, even opening on a preachy note with Oprah Winfrey lecturing about the "power" of the medium was a little downbeat.

It's all water under the bridge to nowhere now. Let's chalk this one up to experience and try to do better next year.

Yikes. Rough start last night for Fox's new sitcom "Do Not Disturb."

Show that was pretty well batted around by crix drew 4.9 million viewers and 2.0 rating/5 share in adults 18-49 in the 9:30 p.m. berth, according to prelim Nielsens. "Do Not Disturb" sank from its "Til Death" lead-in (6.4 mil, 2.4/7), which in turn gave up significant ground from a solid lead-in from 8 p.m. drama "Bones" (8.9 million, 2.9/8).

"Do Not Disturb" wasn't quite in "Anchorwoman" territory -- the comedy Fox yanked after one woefully low-rated airing last August -- but it's not a promising preem, by any means.

Overall, NBC won the night with another two-hour installment of "America's Got Talent" (11.5 mil, 2.8/8).

Meanwhile, in late night, Barack Obama's visit to "The Late Show with David Letterman" pushed Letterman to a narrow win over "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." "Late Show" polled a 4.1 household rating/10 share in Nielsen's 55 overnight metered markets to "Tonight's" 3.9/10. Craig Ferguson's "Late Late Show" squeaked past "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" by an even tighter margin (1.9/7 vs. 1.8/6).

"Fringe" got off to a surprisingly modest start for Fox last night.

It did respectable business, for sure, for a new show, winning the night for Fox in the adults 18-49 derby. But for all the promotion Fox gave it and for J.J. Abrams standing in the sci-fi/fantasy TV world, you would've expected more people to show up for the first seg.

Airing from 8-9:35 p.m., "Fringe" averaged about 9 million viewers and a 3.2 rating/9 share in adults 18-49, according to prelim Nielsens. The good news is that viewers didn't flee from the show at the half-hour marks. And "Fringe" will get a boost next week when it airs at 9 p.m. with a lead-in from the mighty "House."

Meanwhile, folks over at the CW have to be satisfied, if not overjoyed, with the second-week perf of "90210" and the debut of "Privileged." "90210" fell to 3.3 million viewers from last week's 4.9 million. "Privileged" hung in there at 9 p.m. with 2.9 million. And "90210" may yet see an uptick next week. Last night, the first-season finale of ABC Family's summer success "The Secret Life if the American Teenager" (still awaiting those numbers) aired opposite "90210," which surely put a dent in the teen and young femme turnout for CW.

Variety ratings guru Rick Kissell has all the details on last night's numbers right here.

What do "Lost," the U.S. Open golf tourney and "So You Think You Can Dance" all have in common? Click on over to this post on the Season Pass blog to find out.

Hint: It involves TiVo viewing and commercials, and the people who love them both.

NBC is duly proud of its perf during the past week nights with boffo numbers harvested from the Beijing summer Games.

The primetime average for the first seven nights is an eye-popping 30.6 million viewers, up 13% from the comparable period in the 2004 Athens summer Games.

In adults 18-49, the Olympic pageantry and competish has delivered an average 10.5 rating, up 12% from the perf at this point in the Athens games. The numbers are up, Beijing vs. Athens, in the elusive younger demos as well: up 10% in adults 18-34 (8.9); and 8% in persons 12-34 (8.0). The biggest bounce has come in the male demos -- thank you, Michael Phelps -- with viewership posting a lofty 23% spike in men 18-34 (8.6); a 17% gain in men 18-49 (9.9); and a 20% jump in males 12-34 (7.8).

So NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker can be forgiven for frothing a bit in an interview Friday morning with CNBC's "Squawk Box" about the ratings and the additional $10 million in ad coin that NBC U has booked since the Games began. Zucker has spent the past year talking up NBC Universal's cable and international portfolio and how it's transforming the House that Sarnoff Built. But he did a verbal victory dance celebrating the unparalleled reach of broadcast TV in his gushy interview with CNBC's Carl Quintanilla, Joe Kernan and Michelle Caruso-Cabrera.

(For really gushy dispatches from Beijing, check out NBC Entertainment co-chairman Ben Silverman's reportage for Ryan Seacrest's KIIS-FM show. "Beijing Ben" sounds like he's having an "amazing" time in China, but it kinda begs the question of who's minding the store in Burbank as Silverman's first slate of shows prep for launch next month?)

Pictured above: "Today" co-host Meredith Vieira flanked by members of the U.S. women's gymnastics team.

This just in from AMC: The premiere telecast of "Mad Men's" season two opener drew about 1.9 million viewers. That's up from last summer's preem, which drew 1.65 million viewers, and a big spike from the show's first-season average of about 915,000 viewers per seg.

It's not exactly gynormous growth, but the needle is moving in the right direction. And by AMC's standard, these are triple-digit spikes. Variety's ratings guru Rick Kissell has all the details right here.

It wasn't a total loss. This is a contrarian view on the season that will go down in the Nielsen annals as the lowest rated on record for the Big Four nets, but there was some good news to be found here and there, amid the wreckage.

For sure, the season-long stats on the 2007-08 campaign are pretty darn ugly, as Variety ratings guru Rick Kissell smartly and soberly details in this season wrap. But in actuality we didn't have a season, we had two abbreviated seasons -- pre- and post-strike. Writers Guild of America leaders were as strategic as Eisenhower and Marshall carving up the European theater in triggering the work stoppage to begin on Nov. 5, to ensure maximum impact on current production and pilot development.

Of course, most everything the WGA was fighting for in its 100 Days War has been at work in force  -- on steroids -- in this topsy-turvy season: the increasing popularity of web streaming of programming and DVR time-shifted viewing, the increasing use of digital extensions of traditional programs to drive traffic to network-affiliated websites and to generate new revenue streams for our half-dozen favorite media congloms.

Beyond the fairness issue and the wonky oh-my-god-younger-generations-will-never-watch-TV-the-same-way-again considerations, let's look at what the nets have to show for themselves program-wise out of the fall and spring mini seasons of '07-'08.

We were told they were coming, but it still didn't prepare the Variety newsroom for the sight of 26 cases of unsalted peanuts showing up at our door on Tuesday afternoon.

"Jericho" fans are nothing if not determined. The loyalists who helped save the show from annihilation after its first season with a well-orchestrated campaign last year have regrouped to find more creative -- and not inexpensive -- ways to bring attention to their cause. (Last year, "Jericho" fans sent nuts by the truckload to CBS execs.)

The nut-cases delivered to Variety all featured a sticker that read "Save Jericho! "Nuts to Nielsen!!!" highlighting the shortcomings in the ratings service's ability to track viewing on more than just the old-fashioned live telecast.

"Jericho" stalwarts are convinced that if CBS could get its arms around the number of people who are watching the show via DVRs, web streaming and paid downloads, it might be enough to have convinced the Eye to hang tough rather than nuke the show for a second time as it did last month. The industry's inability to get a clear understanding of the new world of on-demand viewing habits is a big problem, bigger than even a nuclear bomb going off in the middle of the lone prairie.

"Jericho" fans have also shelled out in the past few days for full-page ads in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter designed to convince another net or cabler to give the show a chance. Pretty bold, given that CBS Paramount Network TV could probably bring the law down on them for shopping something that isn't exactly theirs to shop. Ad even goes so far as to point interested buyers to CBS Par Entertainment boss Nancy Tellem. CBS, meanwhile, has migrated the show to the "CBS Classics" page of its website and is offering web streaming of all 29 episodes from both seasons.

The "Jericho" fandom may be an irritant to CBS Par execs, but at a time when even TV's top shows are taking double-digit ratings hits, it's heartening to see that TV, even canceled TV, can still stir up such passion in viewers who adopt shows as their own.

So thanks to all the "Jericho" lovers out there, and thanks also for the protein boost that many of us at Variety will enjoy during the next few weeks (months?) as we work our way through the peanuts. About an hour after the delivery arrived, the newsroom was a-poppin' with the sound of peanut shells being opened.

It's always intriguing to see how the Live-plus-7 ratings stack up against premiere telecast numbers, or more accurately, the Live-plus-same-day viewing stats. It's the quantifiable evidence that DVRs are changing the world, one show at a time.

CBS has brought to our attention that "Jericho's" preem numbers weren't quite as modest as they seemed from the overnights. Per CBS: "'Jericho's' second season premiere (Feb. 12) ratings increased by +15% in adults 18-49 (3.0/07 from 2.6/07), +17% in adults 25-54 (3.5/08 from 3.0/07) and by more than one million viewers (8.14m from 7.13m, +14%) compared to its live plus same day ratings."

Also, CBS was quick to note the high volume of viewers who trekked to CBS.com and other sources to watch the premiere via web streaming. The Eye sez the "Jericho" opener was streamed 520,000 times during the week after the broadcast preem (Feb. 12-18) and another 180,000 times during the following week (Feb. 18-25).

For those who still remember the details of the WGA strike fight, all of that streaming did fall within the 17-day "promotional window," meaning that the scribes of that seg won't make a cent. Then again, if the stream scene helps keep the show on the air...Moreover, CBS also reports that "Jericho" generated some 760,000 streams of segs from its first season during the week of its second season preem. And being more than a year past the original telecast date, those Web-enabled repeats pay out to scribes at 2% of distributor's gross from the get-go, with no promo window getting in the way.

Meanwhile, media buying agency Magna Global has issued a detailed report on TV viewing during the strike. The general conclusion is that viewing levels remained pretty constant during the November-December period of the strike and didn't start to take a dive until the drought of original segs of scripted series really hit in January. Interestingly, the Magna study shows that there was less delayed viewing via DVRs during the run of the strike, indicating that viewers weren't as interested in keeping up with the replacement reality shows and repeats as they otherwise would be with fresh segs of their scripted faves. The Magna study also notes that retention of audience during the commercial breaks -- a very important measure now with the commercial ratings now determining ad rates -- is far lower with most unscripted skeins than it is with comedies and dramas.

So writes Magna analyst Brian Hughes:

"The primary reason for this (dip in delayed DVR viewing) is that the networks are not gaining as much now from DVR playback as they were in 4th quarter due to an influx of repeats and reality shows. This is clear from the narrowing of the gap between live and live+7 program ratings since January, but the effects can also be seen within average commercial minute ratings...Original reality series, which have been rolled out in force to fill schedule gaps, have a (commercial ratings) index of 97 (5-6 percentage points below scripted original series). This does not include "American Idol," "Survivor," or "Dancing With the Stars," which are the three strongest reality shows, and will always skew the average."

Surprised not to see a bigger pop for "Jericho" in its long-awaited return to CBS' sked, particularly after the generally glowing reviews for the new batch of adventures in war-torn Kansas.

Sophomore season preem of the drama, which was resurrected by fandemonium last spring after it was briefly canceled by the Eye, drew 7.1 million viewers and 2.6 rating/7 share in the adults 18-49 demo at 10 p.m.on Tuesday, per final Nielsens.

"Jericho" beat a fresh installment of ABC's "Boston Legal" (7.3 million, 1.8/5) in the demo but tied a repeat of NBC's "Law & Order: SVU" (8.3 million, 2.6/7). CBS pushed the show's ardent fans to spread word-of-mouth about the show and organize viewing parties. Those numbers may well bump up the Nielsen geigercounter when the 7-day DVR figures are calculated.

As others have noted, Esai Morales (pictured above) has been a great addition to the "Jericho" ensemble as the hard-ass military dude, Major Beck, who's been dispatched by the gov'n'munt to restore law and order to Dorothy-and-Toto country.

(Pictured right: Ashley Scott and Skeet Ulrich)

The cable newsers cleaned up, but Super Tuesday coverage was a snore for the broadcast webs, as Variety's chief Nielsen pollster, Rick Kissell, reports. The drama of Clinton vs. Obama and McCain vs. Romney vs. Huckabee was no match for the "American Idol" and "House."

I spent most of my time on the upper end of the dial, have to admit, though it was nice to see Tom "silver fox" Brokaw back on NBC News. I flipped around quite a bit, and for money the best news delivery mixed with insta analysis came from the MSNBC team led by Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann (pictured left).

As others have noted, CNN's John King was impressive with his mastery of the county-by-county combat in various states. And CNN gets the win for grooviest interactive graphics with the touch screen states that King and Wolf Blitzer were all over last night.

All told, a big night of news for the Democratic race translated into a win for Dem-leaning CNN, with an average of 3.64 million viewers for its primetime coverage. FNC was a close second with 3.49 million average, followed by MSNBC with 2.11 million.

"Lost" stomped all over the competish in its return to ABC's sked on Thursday. "Eli Stone" had a harder time of it in its debut.

The 9 p.m. fourth season premiere seg drew 16.1 million viewers and 6.7 rating/16 share in the adults 18-49 demo, per Nielsen prelims. The 8 p.m. "Lost" clip show did a healthy 13.1 million 4.9/13 in the key demo.

"Lost's" premiere numbers were down from last season's opener (18.8 million, 7.7/19), but we all know last night's figures will balloon when DVR viewing sources are factored in week after next.

Kind of a mixed bag for the 10 p.m. bow of "Eli Stone." The well-reviewed drama about an idealistic lawyer who starts to realize he's a prophet had a hard time hanging on to "Lost's" coattails. It opened to 11.6 million viewers and 4.2/11 in 18-49. Not great, but not terrible either, and and it is an improvement over the perf of "Lost" companion "The Nine" last season.

No lie -- Fox's much-touted "Moment of Truth" had some stickiness in its debut Wednesday behind "American Idol." It passed the toughest test of holding on to the vast majority of "Idol's" coattails.

"Truth" -- which challenges contestants answer a string of increasingly personal questions, things they've already answered while strapped to a polygraph machine prior to going on camera, in the hopes of claiming the $500,000 top prize -- wound up with 23.2 million viewers and 10.2 rating/24 share in the key adults 18-49 demo, per prelim Nielsens. "Idol," by contrast in its final half-hour pulled 28.5 million viewers and 11.4/28 in 18-49.

"Truth" also held up well at the half-hour mark -- if "Idol" viewers were gonna bail, they would've bailed by 9:30. Show lost about 3.7 million viewers and three demo share points between at the half, which isn't half bad by any measure.

With "Idol" back on the sked, everything else pretty much paled, but an honorable mention goes to NBC's "Deal or No Deal" (13.8 million, 3.7/10) which managed to put up its best numbers in 13 months despite going toe to toe at 8 p.m. with "Idol."

Here's a news flash: Younger viewers are watching more TV on their DVRs.

Sure, we know this anecdotally but ad giant Magna Global has been churning out detailed reports during the past few weeks that paint a vivid statistical picture of how DVR viewing is changing the game for all nets. For starters, let's look at median age. For live airings, ABC's median age so far this season is 50; in the DVR universe, it's 39. CBS shaves 10 years from its median age in live (53) versus DVR (43); so does NBC, going from 46 to 36. Fox, already younger-skewing in general than its old network sibs, loses eight years, from a median age of 43 in live viewing to 35 via DVR.

The aud comp stats are equally eye-opening. For live telecasts overall, about 13% of ABC's overall aud falls between the 30-39 age range, compared to 26% with DVR viewing. CBS aud comp jumps from 12% to 26% in the same age group. NBC's comp climbs from 17% to 33% and Fox's grows from 15% to 26%. The gain are not quite as significant in the 12-29  and 40-49 age groups, but they are all in the plus column (ABC's aud comp in 12-29 grows from 9% to 18%), which goes a long way toward answering the question of where in the world all the 49-and-unders have gone this fall.

Among the shows that show significant variances in median age between live and DVR playback:

ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (47 vs. 34)

ABC's "Private Practice" (48 vs. 36)

CBS' "How I Met Your Mother" (48 vs. 35)

CBS' "The Big Bang Theory" (48 vs. 36) -- pictured above

CBS' "CSI" (50 vs. 40)

There are a few shows that get older with DVR viewing, including CW's "Gossip Girl" (23 vs. 27) and "Everybody Hates Chris" (32 vs. 35).

For as much fun as we all had backstage at the Shrine Auditorium on Sunday night, it seems that America (the country, not the actress) didn't play along. Viewership of the Emmycast fell to near-record lows with only 13.1 million viewers. For the details click here for Variety's Sunday night ratings report. And don't take my word for it: For a complete rundown of the winners, click here.

It's the bulge that they're all talking about today at MTV. MTV sez that Monday was MTV.com's busiest day ever "by far" with 2.6 million unique visitors, up 40% over its previous record-high, which was day after last year's VMAs.

MTV also reports that it has beamed out more than 7 million video streams of show snippets, a record that beats last year's 6.7 million streams during the same period, and on Sunday night it delivered some 871,000 streams of the full-blown VMA telecast through its MTV Video Music Awards On-Demand service. So while these bulges aren't attached to any of Britney Spears' body parts per se, her much-panned perf helped drive a whole lot 'o this traffic -- undoubtedly more than if the critics had been raving or even lukewarm about her big comeback effort.

Using the old-fashioned Nielsen ratings yardstick, Sunday's live VMA telecast drew an average of 7.1 million viewers, up 23% from last year, when the show's ratings tumbled precipitously. In the MTV target demo of 12-34, kudocast drew 5 million viewers, also up 23% from last year's low ebb.

Meanwhile, David Letterman came up with some face-saving (belly-saving?) excuses for why Britney bombed so badly on Sunday in his Top Ten list on Monday's show. (Click here for the clip.) Among the highlights:

No. 9: I haven't been myself since Phil Rizzuto died.

No. 3: Uh...global warming.

No. 1: Wanted to get myself on Oprah like Dave.

(Pic of Britney Spears by John Shearer/WireImage)

Watching the season finale of "Big Love" last night and seeing Bill Paxton making out with his wannabe girlfriend/fourth wife to be Branka Katic (Ana the waitress), I wondered why it's OK for him to be unfaithful in his marriage and not anyone else who tires for old and wants something new and fresh?

Being polygamists, the Henricksons don't have to abide by normal laws of matrimony: one wife at a time. But under the guidelines of his religion, Bill Henrickson can, without discussion, announce to his three wives — all wonderfully portrayed by Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin — that he's received a calling for a fourth woman to share his bed.

Suddenly, when Bill locked lips with Katic, my first and only wife turned around to me and said, "He's just a cheater." Can't really argue with that.

The episode was a strong, if not stellar, conclusion to "Big Love," the series that HBO moved to Mondays in order to allow "John From Cincinnati" to gather post-"Sopranos" momentum. Yeah, how'd that work out for "John"? "Love" often feels like it's traveling under that radar at HBO, which sees much bigger buzz on "Entourage" and even the low-watched but geek-friendly "Flight of the Conchords."

Even at Emmy time, "Love" seems, well, unloved. Granted, it wasn't eligible this Emmy season but in its first campaign it didn't receive a series or any acting nominations. And Paxton and his three ladies — or at least one of them — are certainly worthy of awards attention. Even Sevigny, who's so good that she makes me hate her Nicolette Grant.

With "Sopranos" gone and HBO looking for a drama series that might be able to capture some of that watercooler talk that Tony and the gang seemed to create week after week, "Big Love" is as good a candidate as anything they've got.

Certainly, the upcoming "Tell Me You Love Me," about three couples who go to therapy and reveal intimate details about their love life, will get plenty of publicity for all the sex that takes place. And it would be a shame if this addictive series is dismissed as exploitive and not given credit for the terrific dialogue and intricate interplay between characters, as created by Cynthia Mort.

But "Big Love" is the better long-term candidate for keeping viewers subscribed to their HBO. Though the network will rightly say that it counts its audience on a cumulative scale — adding up the different broadcasts during the week, including video on demand, rather than just on the premiere night — moving it to Mondays didn't seem right.

It's earned a move back to Sunday for season three. Polygamists, whether you agree with their philosophy or not, seem a better fit than surfers, no matter who they're sleeping with.

— Stuart Levine

There are 1.3% more of us in TV Nation than last season, per Nielsen Media Research. Nielsen estimates  that there'll be 112.8 million TV households in the U.S. by January 2008, a healthy spike from last season's 111.4 million TV-friendly households. The total number of viewers aged 2 and up is estimated at 286 million, a 1% gain from last season. Much to advertisers' chagrin, baby boomers in the 55-69 are the fastest-growing demo group, up 3.8% to 32.8 million. The largest demo group overall remains the coveted adults 18-49 skew, projected to grow 0.3% to 131 million strong. The persons 12-34 demo is flat year-to-year at 28.4 million, while the teen contingent (12-17s) is the only demo projected to decline -- 0.4% -- to 24.7 million by the start of the new year.

On the market-by-market growth front, Dallas-Ft. Worth has knocked San Francisco out as the nation's fifth-largest TV market, with Frisco dropping to No. 6. Atlanta and Washington, D.C. have also flopped spots, with Atlanta now ranking No. 8 and D.C. dropping to No. 9. (The rest of the top 10 remains the same). Indianapolis has been edged out of the top 25 by Charlotte, N.C.

(For numbers geeks who love this stuff, here's the Nielsen press release with all the breakdowns.)

(Thanks to www.vintagetvsets.com for the above pic of a truly vintage 1946 RCA model.)

This just in -- "Anchorwoman" is dead, yanked by the network after one airing that drew ratings lower than Lauren Jones' neckline. Just think of how this messes will all those office betting pools on which new show will be the first casuality of the fall season. It's August 23rd, fer chrissakes...

The first outing was the last for Fox's "Anchorwoman," the reality-comedy-improv-hybrid show about Lauren Jones, a real-life former WWE lady wrassler and swimsuit model who became a real-life news anchor for tiny KYTX-TV Channel 19 in Tyler, Texas. Hourlong skein opened Wednesday at 8 p.m. to an average of 2.7 million viewers and a 1.0 rating/3 share in the adults 18-49 demo. It came in No. 5 out of six, just ahead of CW's "America's Next Top Model" repeat.

On the bright side, those 2.7 million viewers represent more than 25 times the population of Tyler (94,146 projected for last year), which lies about a hundred miles southeast of Dallas.

We knew going in that Disney Channel's "High School Musical 2" was going to be the Super Bowl for kids this year. And in landing as the most-watched single telecast in the history of the medium among kids 6-11, it's fair to say that Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay and the rest of the East High gang didn't disappoint.

This time around, there were were nearly 10% more boys and a whole lot more adults tuning in to the tuner. Among the 6.1 million kids in the 6-11 age range, the gender breakdown for the Friday premiere airing was 62% girls, 38% boys, compared to a 70-30 split for "High School Musical," which became a not-so-sleeper hit early last year. This past Friday night, two out of three kids who were watching TV were tuned to "HSM2." In the girls 6-11, the audience share was an astounding 80, translating to four out of five girls in the vicinity of a TV set, as Variety's Rick Kissell reports in his detailed look at "HSM2's" perf. (And just wait until the Live-Plus-7 numbers accounting for a week's worth of DVR playback viewing roll in next week...)

But of all the impressive stats generated by the sequel, the sweetest number for Disney Channel stewards may be the fact that one-third of the telepic's aud was comprised of adults 18 and over. The number of young adults (18-34s) and older-younger adults (18-49s) who watched stand as empirical evidence for Disney Channel programming execs that their master plan is working. For a network oriented around grade-schoolers, engaging the attention of voting-age viewers is a coup. Getting kids and moms and dads to all sit still at the same time and gather round the electronic hearth as in the days of yesteryear and three networks (NBC, CBS and DuMont) is an absolute slam dunk in our frantically fragmented age, even even for a commercial-free cabler that isn't worried about selling soap.

Humongous. Gi-normous. Cable record-setting. The Friday preem of Disney Channel's "High School Musical 2" brought in an astounding 17.24 million viewers (17,240,884 to be exact) in its Friday 8-10:05 p.m. ET/PT preem. Take a bow, Disney Channel entertainment prexy Gary Marsh (pictured below), Rich Ross and the rest of the exec team that backed the notion of a kid-friendly tuner last year when most of us were going, huh?For the kids of today -- singing and dancing, Mickey and Judy style? Just goes to prove the industry cliche about zigging when others are zagging....and finding talent, good-looking comers a la Zac Efron to showcase.

"HSM2" tuner now ranks as the most-watched TV movie ever with kids 6-11, drawing 6.1 million viewers in that demo, and the most-watched ever with tweeners 9-14, drawing 5.9 million viewers in that demo, according to Disney Channel. In total households, pic drew a massive 9.4 million cable homes, putting the telecast behind only a handful of sports and news telecasts in cable history in total households deliver. The high total viewer tally also indicates that pic was a family viewing event in most of those 9.4 million households. And as Disney Channel's hard-working PR maven Patti McTeague observed this a.m., who knows how many were really watching given all the viewing parties set around "HSM2" last night.

Disney Channel followed "HSM2" with a sneak peek of the upcoming animated series "Phineas and Ferb," which held onto a healthy 10.8 million viewers from its windfall lead-in. And at 10:20 p.m., a fresh seg of Disney Channel hit "Hannah Montana" was socko enough to rank as Disney Channel's second most-watched telecast ever, with an average of 10.7 million viewers. "Hannah" also set all kinds of series records for Disney Channel and the basic cable biz in general, including most-watched seg with kids 6-11 (4.1 million), and most-watched seg with the 9-14 crowd (4.2 million).

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

Putting the exec session brouhaha aside, there were some actual news about "Lost" to report.

As noted previously, Harold Perrineau will return as Michael. We haven't seen him on the island since the end of season two, when he betrayed Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley. They were captured by the Others while Michael and his son Walt were allowed to leave the island.

And then last season concluded in grand fashion, with a flash-forward sequence where we see Jack and Kate in the present in a major American city. Jack is distraught over the death of someone he has read about in an obituary.

So where do we go from here? McPherson said exec producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse haven't let on what happens next when the series premieres in February for 16 consecutive episodes.

"They haven't released any news about whether we go flash-forward or flashback," McPherson said.

"Lost" has been one of the most buzzworthy series since it launched three years with an expensive pilot -- simulated plane crashes don't come cheap -- that proved worth every penny. And now Lindelof and Cuse have the luxury of knowing when the series will wrap and can write 48 storylines storylines that build up to the finale in 2008.

"Since the show began, Damon and I have talked about how does it end," McPherson said "We've asked is this a traditional series (and should it end) in a traditional way?"

Unlike many shows that start strong and struggle to the finish, the bet here is that there will be plenty of viewers still around when Lindelof and his writing staff wrap up the plight of the Others, castaways and the mysterious Jacob. McPherson is smart to realize Lindelof needed to stay on board and continue the tone he has set forth.

It was imperative to "keep Damon attached until the end of the series," McPherson said.

That being said, the show took some hits in midseason from critics and fans who felt the the plot wasn't moving forward fast enough and seemed to be going through the motions. And ratings fell from year's past as well, but McPherson said the numbers were misleading.

He stated that while the show gets a 4.2 rating in Los Angeles, if you include Live Plus Seven ratings (those who watch on DVRs within seven days of the original airing), the number jumps much higher to 7.2.

Yet, the legacy of "Lost" will never be about viewer totals or demos, but "Can you believe last night's episode"-type discussion often heard among devotees at the office on Thursday morning. In the Variety newsroom, the show probably accounts for about 50-plus "Lost" geek-out what does it all mean emails, and always a few from people begging for no spoilers because they haven't picked it up on TiVo yet or via streaming on ABC.com.

-- Stuart Levine

Big panel, big show, big challenges.

The "Friday Night Lights" cast and crew were well-received by the TCA-ers in the show's sesh on Tuesday. The crix weren't overly gushy but there was a general consensus that this Peabody-winning show is a fine example of quality triumphing over anemic ratings. Getting a wider audience to appreciate the show had become something of a mission for the previous steward of NBC Entertainment, before Kevin Reilly hustled out of Burbank in June following the Ben Silverman shakeup.

To Ben's credit, in the eyes of "FNL" fans, he's vowed to support the show and one of his first bulletins on Monday in his exec Q&A was a time slot switch for the show that at least takes it out of the vortex of 10 p.m. Friday (where only CBS has found the right mathematical equation to get a decent number lately with "Numbers"). Now "FNL" is due to get a little hammock support at 9 p.m. on its namesake night between "Deal or No Deal" and "Las Vegas." And Silverman's co-topper, Marc Graboff, praised the show for being "efficiently produced," which was another thing that helped it survive for a second season.

POSTED BY MICHAEL LEARMONTH

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann carried the flag for NBC News at TCA on Tuesday, but as usual, Fox News wasn’t far from his mind, or anyone else's, for that matter.

Posted in the lobby was a bit of guerilla marketing that had all the hallmarks of a Fox News stunt. Someone hung a poster with the faces of all of cable news’ 8p.m. anchors PhotoShopped onto horses with the headline, “Fourth in a four-horse race,” pointing out that since June Olbermann has been finishing fourth in the 25-54 demo 24% of the time.

A sign, perhaps, of respect, and the fact that the 8 p.m. time slot is the most competitive in cable news. Fox News' Bill O’Reilly dominates, but Olbermann is up 67% in the second quarter over the same period last year, gains he freely attributes to his on-air feud with O’Reilly and his anti-Bush commentary. (Olbermann called for the resignation of President Bush and Veep Cheney the week of July 4.)

MSNBC is hoping to take his recent gains to the next level by associating him with the Campaign '08, despite his partisan rantings. Olbermann co-anchored MSNBC's election night coverage with Chris Matthews last fall, and the network announced he would be moderating a Democratic candidate’s forum for the AFL-CIO in Chicago on Aug. 7. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden are among the candidates who have RSVP'd for the jawboning sesh with more than 5,000 union members and their families.

Despite his animus for Fox News, Olbermann defended that network for scheduling a Democratic debate, to which Clinton, Obama and Edwards have thus far failed to commit.

“I don’t think I would be advising any of the candidates to turn down free TV time, whether its on Fox News or Al Jazeera,” he quipped.

-- Michael Learmonth

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

Does the fact that viewer totals are excruciatingly low mean NBC's stellar Thursday night comedy lineup has little chance to be placed in the same class as in the days of "Cheers," "Friends" and "Seinfeld," all of which were ratings behemoths?

Ratings, mind you, have never come close to being equated with quality. Geez, "Veronica's Closet" and "The Single Guy" probably have higher numbers than "The Office" or "30 Rock" will ever do ... combined.

But after a TCA panel with the creator and star of each of the four comedies that air on Thursday -- "My Name Is Earl," "Scrubs," "30 Rock" and "The Office" -- it's quite obvious these guys (and lady) are funny. Really funny. What exactly does somebody have to do these days to get people to tune in?

"It's our job to make the shows good and Ben's job to make them watch," said Lorne Michaels, exec producer of "30 Rock" and "Saturday Night Live" godfather, about the job new NBC topper Ben Silverman has ahead of him.

When a reporter asked "30 Rock" star/creator/exec producer Tina Fey (pictured) whether she was confident last fall that hers was the NBC show-within-a-show would survive to see a second season, unlike Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," Fey didn't hesitate in her response.

I was 100 percent sure," she said. "I have a nasty streak in me."

(Pictured above, from right: "Office" exec producer Greg Daniels, Lorne Michaels, Tina Fey and "My Name is Earl" exec producer Greg Garcia.)

POSTED BY MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

The most-anticipated session in all of this summer's TV Critics Association press tour happens tomorrow. Monday, 9 a.m., the Beverly Hilton: It's Ben Silverman, along with partner Marc Graboff.

To quote NBC circa 1984: "Be there!"

To paraphrase NBC circa 1996: "It's must-see TCA!"

To whet our palate, Graboff made a brief appearance at the tour Friday, to discuss the state of Guild negotiations and labor questions (along side Warner Bros.' Bruce Rosenblum and AMPTP's Nick Counter).

When asked about the Peacock's strike contingency plans, Graboff scored a few chuckles with this quote:

"I'm not going to get into the details of what our schedule will look like just for competitive reasons. We are committed to providing quality entertainment programming. You are not going to see a test pattern, although maybe on NBC a test pattern in some cases would be OK."

NBC has traditionally (and I've always found this unusual) been the most self-deprecating of the broadcast networks. Even when it was top-rated, the Peacock would open its Upfront presentations with some sort of comedy routine or video that mocked the web -- be it Triumph the Insult Comic Dog or a video starring the entertainment president of the moment. Now that it's in fourth place, those jokes may hit a little too close to the bone -- but expect at least a few moments of gallows humor at Monday's executive session.

-- Michael Schneider

Mr. T says, "Be there, fool!"

OK, it's official. NBC's "Singing Bee" won the first round in the battle of the singing-competish reality series. "Don't Forget the Lyrics," Fox's spin on the "insert-lyrics-here" reality-competish genre bowed Wednesday in the 9:30 p.m. slot to 8.6 million viewers and 3.4 rating/10 share in the adults 18-49 demo, according to prelim Nielsens. That compared to 13.3 million and 5.1/14 on Tuesday for NBC's "Bee," in the same time period. Hosted by the ever-charming Wayne Brady (pictured at left), "Lyrics" didn't move the needle compared to the final 30 minutes of its 90-minute lead-in, "So You Think You Can Dance" (8.4 mil viewers, 3.4/10 from 9-9:30 p.m.). But then again, people didn't flee from it either, so that's something. And wannabe warblers plus the "So You Think You Can Dance"-ers were strong enough to give the Fox the nightly win (7.7 mil, 3.1/10) by a comfortable margin in both measures.