'American Idol' climbs, outsmarts 'Mentalist'

Tuesday's top show, Fox's "American Idol," went up slightly in the ratings (25.1 million viewers, 9.5 preliminary adults 18-49 rating and 23 share) as it stretched to two hours.

The second highest-rated show, NBC's "The Biggest Loser" (8.9 million, 3.6/9), was virtually unchanged from last week despite sharing two hours with "Idol."

Other shows demonstrated mixed results. CBS' "NCIS" held steady. "The Mentalist" (18.3 million, 3.8/9) slipped 10% with the "Idol" encroachment, yet continued to rank as Tuesday's highest-rated scripted show. ABC's "Homeland Security" (4.7 million, 1.4/4) continued to perform weakly.

In the 10 p.m. hour, all three shows were down slightly from two weeks ago, when they were last all airing originals: "Law & Order: SVU" (9.4 million, 3.5/9) topped the hour, followed in the adult demo by "Without a Trace" (12.2 million, 2.6/7) and "Primetime: What Would You Do" (5.7 million, 2.0/5).

Last night hundreds of stations made the transition to digital, but according to representitives from the National Association of Broadcasters, the "vast majority" flipped the switch after primetime .