8pm
Just like last season, the 8pm hour on Tuesday was a fall/winter story. During the fall, ABC was flying high with "8 Simple Rules" (53) and "I'm With Her" (83) and NBC thought that it finally had two hit sitcoms with "Whoppi" (83) and "Happy Family" (86). But then along came "American Idol" (2) and ruined everything, sending all four sitcoms into the toilet. Was anybody not affected? Well, "Navy NCIS" (28) held pretty solid and even ranked season in the slot in adults 18-49 by the end of the season, the WB's "Gilmore Girls," while down over last season (128), actually seemed to improve after "Idol" came on, and the UPN's "One On One" (148) and "All Of Us" (141) did okay in the ratings. The lesson? Airing somethinf different and viewers will show up.

Winner:  American Idol (Fox)
Loser:  NBC, ABC

9pm
9pm on Tuesdays was much more competitive than just an hour earlier amd a number of series could all claim victory in some way. "24" and "The Guardian" actually tied for the lead in the timeslot at 43rd, though "24" had a huge lead-in, and "The Guardian" did not. Guess which one got cancelled? Stupid, stupid, CBS, even more stupid for trying out "Century City" (78). Over on ABC, "According To Jim" (46) and the surprizing "Less Than Perfect" (64) won over NBC in adults, if not viewers, as the final season of "Frasier" (39) seemed to go unnoticed. Companion series "Scrubs" (46) actually did much worse than that as that ranking also taked into account a huge early season boost on Thursday night. "Good Morning Miami" actually started off the night in 63rd, and quickly got the boot. The UPN also went the comedy route early and last in the season, getting bad results for "Rock Me Baby" (154), but even worse results for "The Mullets" (160). The real winners in the timeslot? After a huge bomb start last fall, "One Tree Hill" (138) emeraged as the WB's newest marquee drama, while "America's Next Top Model" (105) set records for the UPN and finally knocked off "WWE Smackdown" as the net's highest rated series. Cheers!

Winner: America's Next Top Model (UPN)
Loser:  The Mullets (UPN)

10pm
4 series were tried in the hour over the season, and three came out looking good. "SVU" moved to the night and yes, it did lose viewers, but ranking 24th on the season made it look like gold to the WB. "Judging Amy" (40) continues to lsowly lose viewers, while "NYPD Blue," in its 12th season, still had enough teeth to rank 50th. The loser? ABC's "Line Of Fire," which slid to 98th in just 6 weeks on the air.

Winner:  Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
Loser:  Line Of Fire (ABC)