For some reason, CBS chose last night - an American Idol night - to test out a primetime edition of their evening news. Needless to say, the experiment bombed.

8pm

• American Idol (27 million, 10.1/25 in 18-49) picked up 1.1 million.
• Outside of repeats, the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric (6.5 million, 1.2/3) had the worst demos of the night.
• Knight Rider (6.1 million, 1.9/5) grew by 1.1 million.
• Lost* (1.7/4) refreshed 5.3 million.
• The New Adventures of Old Christine* (4.9 million, 1.1/3) fell by 2.4 million.
• Privileged* (1.1 million, 0.4/1) did 300,000 less than 13: Fear is Real.

9pm

• Lie to Me (12.1 million, 4.4/10 in 18-49) was down a few notches.
• Lost (11.1 million, 4.8/11) had the best demos of the hour.
• Criminal Minds* (10.6 million, 2.5/6) lost 3.2 million.
• Law & Order: SVU* (6.4 million, 1.9/4) improved by 1.2 million.
• 90210* (1 million, 0.4/1) added on 180,000.

10pm

• CSI: NY* (9.5 million, 2.4/6 in 18-49) gave up 2.3 million.
• Law & Order (8.9 million, 2.6/7) rounded up 600,000 more.
• The Wednesday debut of Life on Mars (6.5 million, 2.3/6) was off 800,000 from its last original episode.

*denotes repeat

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