By Lisa de Moraes
Thursday, February 21, 2008

Fox officially became the country's favorite TV network last week, moving into first place among viewers of all ages for the first time in its history. That's thanks mostly to the 30 million who tuned in to "American Idol" on Tuesday and the nearly 25 million who caught the singing competition the next night. Nothing could touch it -- the week's No. 3 show trailed by about 10 million viewers.

Here's a look at the week's in-tune and out:

WINNERS

"Knight Rider." NBC's movie/backdoor-pilot revival of the '80s talking-car hit clocked nearly 13 million viewers -- the second-most-watched scripted program of the week, behind ABC's "Lost" -- while scoring the biggest 18-to-49-year-old crowd rating for any movie (made-for-TV or theatrical) on any network in nearly three years.

"Dexter." Showtime lent its serial-killer drama to CBS to help fill those pesky strike-induced holes in its prime-time schedule. "Dexter" was rewarded with more than 8.2 million viewers -- more than 7 million better than it's been doing on Showtime. It's about 3 million shy of CBS's previous four-week average in the Sunday 10 p.m. hour, as the network winged it with this and that (not bad considering "this" included the Grammy Awards, and "that" included a Hallmark Hall of Fame flick "The Russell Girl").

"Monk." Part 1 of its two-part season finale copped 5.6 million viewers Friday at 9 p.m., beating ABC's "Desperate Housewives" rerun (3.1 million) and finishing as the week's No. 2 cable program. USA ordered a seventh season of the obsessive-compulsive-detective dramedy.

Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. The 3.4 million who watched Uno the beagle work his way to top-dog status Tuesday was the USA telecast's biggest final-night crowd since '05.

LOSERS

"Jericho." Twenty tons of peanuts translated to 7.1 million viewers -- a record low for the apocalypse drama, which CBS canceled last spring, only to change its mind after being buried in 40,000 pounds of nuts sent by rabid fans. (This week, the second episode of the resuscitated "Jericho" fell to a new series-low of 6 million viewers.) So, all you rabid fans of "Friday Night Lights" and "The 4400" out there -- you can stop sending network suits those light bulbs and sunflower seeds -- the game's over.

"Dance War." ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" spinoff stumbled as it exited. Last Monday's finale drew 9.2 million viewers -- only slightly better than the previous week's series low and about 15 million lighter than the crowd that caught the most recent "DWTS" season finale.

The week's 10 most watched programs, in order, were: Fox's Tuesday and Wednesday "American Idol" and "Moment of Truth"; ABC's "Lost" and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"; CBS's "Survivor: Micronesia"; NBC's Monday "Deal or No Deal" and "Knight Rider"; CBS's "60 Minutes"; and NBC's Thursday "Deal or No Deal."