Thanks to ABC’s smart decision to can Opportunity Knocks, the network’s first two hours saw big improvements over last week. Unfortunately, its third hour (Eli Stone) didn’t benefit from the programming change. By night’s end, CBS was the winner with the viewers while FOX was tops with the demos.

8pm

• NCIS (17.1 million, 3.6/10 in 18-49) lost 800,000.
• House (12.9 million, 5.5/15) had the best demos of the night.
• A Dancing with the Stars* recap show (9.3 million, 2.0/6) did 4 million better than last week’s Knocks.
• The Biggest Loser: Families (7.3 million, 2.9/8) was down slightly.
• 90210* (1.4 million, 0.6/2) was down 400,000.

9pm

• The Dancing with the Stars results hour (16 million, 3.8/9 in 18-49) scored another 1.6 million.
• The Mentalist (15.3 million, 3.4/9) added on 400,000.
• Fringe (9.1 million, 4.0/10) shrunk by 400,000.
• Privileged (1.5 million, 0.7/2) picked up 300,000.

10pm

• Without a Trace (11.6 million, 2.6/7 in 18-49) nailed down another 600,000.
• Law & Order: SVU (9.4 million, 3.5/10) remained steady.
• Eli Stone (8.5 million, 2.2/6) gave up 300,000.

*denotes repeat

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