No Sir Paul, but Plenty of Nostalgia on 'Idol'

Here's a look at the week's best of times and worst of times:

WINNERS

"October Road." ABC drama opens in the cozy post-"Grey's Anatomy" slot and logs nearly 14 million viewers -- the network's best results in that time slot with a regular program in more than four years. That said, the new chick drama about writer who goes home to say "hey" to locals he burned in semi-autobiographical novel beat the debut of NBC's "Raines" at 10 by only 3.5 million viewers -- even though "10/Rd." had a lead-in advantage of about 17 million people.

"Raines." While the media were all "ooh -- 'October Road'!" in their coverage of Thursday's premieres, the more impressive performance was that of "Raines," starring Jeff Goldblum as a detective who sees dead people. "Raines" turned a lousy "Why Does Andy Richter Keep Getting Sitcoms?" debut lead-in of 6 million viewers into a crowd of nearly 11 mil. "October Road" turned its "Grey's Anatomy" lead-in of 23 mil into 14 million viewers.

" 'Til Death." In its new, can't-miss post-"American Idol" time slot, Brad Garrett's Fox sitcom clocked its biggest audience ever -- more than 14 million viewers.

"Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" In its first time flying solo, without an "American Idol" lead-in, "5th Grader" copped Fox's biggest Thursday 8 o'clock crowd since "World's Wildest Police Videos" darkened that time period eight years ago.

LOSERS

"Jericho." Since returning from hiatus, CBS's stab at the serialized apocalyptic drama genre so popular these days is posting significantly smaller numbers than it delivered last fall. We've assumed this was the result of its "American Idol" competition, but last week "Idol" moved to 9 p.m. Wednesday and "Jericho" nonetheless hit a series low -- 7.8 million -- for an original episode.

"Wedding Bells." David E. Kelley's new chick drama plunged to 5.7 million viewers in its killer Friday time slot, less than half the crowd of 12.3 million it enjoyed one week earlier after "Idol."

"Andy Barker, P.I." See "Raines," under Winners.

The week's 10 most watched programs, in order, were: Fox's Tuesday and Wednesday "American Idol"; ABC's "Grey's Anatomy"; NBC's Monday "Deal or No Deal"; CBS's "Cold Case," "60 Minutes" and "CSI: Miami"; Fox's " 'Til Death"; ABC's "October Road"; and CBS's "Without a Trace."