It's been a while -- eight months to be exact -- but "V" has finally returned.

But even a highly publicized return of original series baddie Jane Badler doesn't seem to be enough to keep these motherships in the sky.

"V" earned a 4.0 rating/6 share in Fast National overnight ratings from The Nielsen Co. on Tuesday. It's the largest audience for "V" since it was moved to 10 p.m. on Tuesdays last March, and is up slightly from the 3.8/6 Season 1 finale in May.

The series -- which stars Morena Baccarin, Elizabeth Mitchell and Joel Gretsch -- beat "Million Dollar Money Drop" on Fox, but that was about it. Both the mid-season premiere of "Biggest Loser" on NBC and the series premiere of "Live to Dance" with Paula Abdul on CBS did considerably better at 9 p.m. Tuesday. It did 8 percent better than "No Ordinary Family's" brief run in the time slot, but is off 36 percent from the timeslot average for ABC last year.

Of course, that might not be the best measure for the show. The timeslot does typically contain shows like "Dancing With the Stars," currently the best-rated show on television which is averaging an 11.4/18 there this year.

"V" didn't have a lot of help from its lead-in. "No Ordinary Family" hit a series low for its timeslot, gaining a 4.1/6. However, that was better than the 3.7/6 that show as averaging an hour later.

"Family" finished last in the 8 p.m. timeslot against new shows like "Live to Dance" and "Biggest Loser."

"V" averaged a 5.3/8 last season, thanks mostly to a very strong series premiere of an 8.5/13 in November 2009 in the 8 p.m. slot. It would average a 6.7/10 over four episodes at 8 before falling to a 3.8/6 in the spring at 10 o'clock.

This doesn't necessarily mean that the end is near for "V." If it maintains a stable audience from here on out, it could survive longer, but it's already been plagued by schedule shifting and an episode order reduction, so a third season already was unlikely before Tuesday's episode aired.