NEW YORK -- Powered by another "American Idol," Fox ran away with Tuesday's primetime, spoiling the premiere of "The Amazing Race" and the second of the five-night run of "Deal or No Deal."

"Idol" averaged 30 million viewers and a 12.4 rating/31 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, according to Nielsen Media Research. The 90-minute show started strong -- 26.3 million viewers -- and then concluded with a monster 33.1 million viewers between 9-9:30 p.m.

At 9:30 p.m., though, Fox's viewership plunged with the comedy "The War at Home," in its first outing in the new time slot. But its 12.5 million viewers and 5.6/13 still looked pretty good compared with the competition.

CBS narrowly beat NBC in the demo for second place for the night (3.9/10 vs. NBC's 3.8/9) though it came in a distant second in total viewers (12 million vs. NBC's 10.4 million). "NCIS" averaged 15.1 million viewers and a 3.5/9 at 8 p.m., the best of the rest against "Idol."

Yet the two-hour premiere of "Amazing Race" didn't jump out of the gate strong, averaging 10.4 million viewers and a 4.1/10 in the demo. "Amazing Race" dropped in total viewers but added slightly in the demo (9.9 million, 3.4/8) compared with its lead-in before dropping to third place at 10:30 p.m. with 9.4 million viewers and a 4.0/10.

NBC wasn't able to do much with its lineup, which began at 8 p.m. with the second installment of "Deal or No Deal" averaging 10 million viewers and a 3.3/8 in the demo. Two half-hours of "Scrubs" pulled the network a combined 7.5 million viewers and a 3.3 in the demo. NBC made a recovery at 10 p.m., with "Law & Order: SVU" averaging 13.8 million viewers and a 4.9/12 in the demo.