The new Fox series "Touch" impressed both critics and audiences, and its preview episode is now at the top of the genre ratings heap.

In a single episode, the Kiefer Sutherland series earned a 7.0 rating/11 share, according to Fast National overnight ratings from The Nielsen Co. That average may come down when the series makes its regular premiere in March, but for now, it's ahead of past genre leader "Once Upon a Time," which has been slipping in the ratings as of last, and is now averaging a 6.1/9.

"Once" averaged a 6.7 household rating through its first five episodes, but its five most recent have dropped 16 percent to a 5.6 rating.

"Alcatraz" is going strong for Fox, which might be bad news for "Terra Nova," which is really depending on an early flop for a chance at survival. The series, starring "Lost's" Jorge Garcia as well as Sarah Jones and Sam Neill, is averaging a 5.7/8 in its early episodes, an entire ratings point ahead of where "Terra Nova" finished.

While there is a good chance that audience erosion will bring "Alcatraz" closer to "Terra Nova" in the ratings overall, Fox has to make a decision quickly, and thus it could be early ratings that help decide the fate of "Terra Nova," not later ratings. Plus, the per-episode budget of "Alcatraz" is a fraction of what it is for the special effects-heavy "Terra Nova."

"Fringe," which is television's lowest-rated show among the major networks, stayed a step ahead of "Vampire Diaries" on The CW. It has bounced back in recent weeks, averaging a 2.1/3 since Jan. 20, compared to a 1.8/3 since Nov. 11. That's an audience growth of 17 percent, but the future of "Fringe" remains in doubt.

"Vampire Diaries" has slipped a little over that same time, losing 14 percent of its audience since the beginning of the year. That seems to have had an effect on its lead-out show, "The Secret Circle" as well, which dropped to a series low 1.1/2 on Jan. 19, a 21 percent drop from its season average.

In fact, that low matches what "Supernatural" has been doing by itself on Fridays. While it might be genre's lowest-rated show, it remains one of the most stable, with an Audience Loyalty Index of 90.3. That means of all the people who have tuned in for at least one episode of "Supernatural," more than 90 percent of them return each and every week.

For a look at how television did overall in the ratings through the end of January, check out our sister site Inside Blip.

Top Network Genre Shows, Through Jan. 28 -- [Audience Loyalty Index rating]

Fast Nationals usually provide a snapshot of what Americans are watching by pulling numbers from the top urban markets that include 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.

Data collected from The Nielsen Co., as distributed by Zap2it. GenreNexus tracks non-news, non-event programming, and figures for this story reflect airing of new episodes only. For more information on the Audience Loyalty Index, click here.