Finally a bit of good news for NBC. Even though the network faced another evening against American Idol, it did manage a second-place finish in the demos. Why? Nice returns for both The Biggest Loser and SVU. (The repeats on CBS also helped.)

8pm

• Approximately 25.2 million watched the Top 13 compete on American Idol (9.2/24 in 28-49).
• NCIS* (13.3 million, 2.7/8) lost 400,000.
• The Biggest Loser: Couples (9.3 million, 3.8/10) piled on 300,000.
• Homeland Security USA (5.1 million, 1.4/4) gave up 600,000.
• Reaper (2.2 million, 0.8/2) slid by 200,000.

9pm

• The Mentalist* (14.3 million, 2.8/7 in 18-49) grew by 1.5 million.
• Scrubs* (2.9 million, 1.1/3) dropped by 500,000.
• 90210* (1 million, 0.4/1) was down slightly.

10pm

• Law & Order: SVU (11 million, 3.6/10 in 18-49) had its largest audience of the season.
• Without a Trace* (10.2 million, 2.1/6) fell by 300,000.
• Primetime: What Would You Do? (1.9/5) returned to 5.1 million.

*denotes repeat

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