Even though it posted the best demos of its hour, the Season 5 premiere of Lost was off approximately 25% from its last opener. Meanwhile, FOX’s Lie to Me debuted to a larger audience than its direct ABC competitor.

8pm

• American Idol (25.9 million, 9.8/25 in 18-49) was down 4.4 million from last week.
• A Lost* recap (3.3/9) got 8.5 million caught up.
• The New Adventures of Old Christine (7.3 million, 2.1/6) and Gary Unmarried (7 million, 2.2/5) were both up slightly.
• Knight Rider (5 million, 1.5/4) slipped by 300,000.
• 13: Fear is Real (1.4 million, 0.5/1) lost 200,000.

9pm

• Criminal Minds (13.8 million, 3.4/8 in 18-49) gave up 300,000.
• Approximately 12.4 million (4.9/12) checked out Lie to Me.
• Lost (11.4 million, 5.0/12) had its smallest premiere audience to date.
• Law & Order: SVU* (5.2 million, 1.6/4) added on 700,000.
• 90210* (820,000, 0.4/1) picked up 130,000.

10pm

• CSI: New York (11.8 million, 2.9/7 in 18-49) fell by 1.1 million.
• Law & Order (8.3 million, 2.4/6) did about the same.

*denotes repeat

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