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Audiences definitely were interested in what this whole "New Amsterdam" series was about, and a lead-in from "American Idol" didn't hurt it at all.

The series premiere of the show that some say borrows a lot from the Highlander series, and others say is a direct ripoff from a book series, pulled in a very impressive 8.3 rating/12 share according to Fast National ratings from Nielsen Media Research.

The Fox series lost nearly half of the audience that tuned in for "American Idol" -- which easily won the night -- but the numbers were still impressive, given it a premiere on the same level of "Pushing Daisies," "Bionic Woman" and "Lost." However, the premiere was still down quite a bit from the first episode of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," which got a big boost from playoff football coverage.

"New Amsterdam" won the 9 p.m. hour on Fox, keeping it well ahead of "The Biggest Loser" on NBC, "Big Brother" on CBS, and sitcoms on ABC. Of course, the network's highest rating went to "American Idol," which pulled down a 15.9/24, according to Zap2it.

"Jericho," which has been struggling to find new life on CBS, didn't do so hot, however. Even with a bit of a stronger lead from "Big Brother," which pulled in a 4.3/7, "Jericho" lost 9 percent of the reality show's audience and finished with a 3.9/7, matching its lowest rating of the season set just two weeks ago.

Once again, this may be a missed opportunity for CBS as its "NCIS" rerun in the 8 p.m. hour drew a 7.0/10, only to lose nearly 39 percent of its audience going into "Big Brother."

"Jericho" finished last in its time slot behind a rerun of "Law & Order: SVU" and a new episode of "Primetime" on ABC.

A few issues to note that could have affected programming across the board is that it's likely programming was pre-empted in some states because of Presidential primaries, although reports we're receiving is that episodes ran as scheduled in most markets with minor interruptions in commercial breaks or through news crawls at the bottom of the screen.

While fans of "Jericho" are still hoping that online activity for the series is enough to convince CBS to give the show a third season, the current ratings are not looking very promising.

For the night, Fox finished first with a 12.1/18. CBS was third with a 5.1/8, beating ABC (3.7/5) and The CW (1.6/2).

Fast Nationals usually provide a snapshot of what Americans are watching by pulling numbers from the top urban markets that includes both live viewing and same-day timeshifted viewing. A rating point generally represents more than 1.1 million households while the share indicates the percentage of televisions turned on that was tuned to the specific program. These numbers typically shift when final ratings are issued.