The New York Times-20080125-Viewers Flock To Fox Game- -Brief-

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Viewers Flock To Fox Game; [Brief]

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The Moment of Truth, Fox's new game show in which contestants are questioned after having been hooked up to polygraph machines, passed its own first test with flying colors, drawing particularly impressive ratings in its debut on Wednesday at 9 p.m. Nielsen estimated that the show delivered 23.2 million viewers, more than any series premiere on any network in almost a year. The last new show to earn higher ratings was Fox's Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, which drew 26.5 million viewers last February. That show and The Moment of Truth benefited from coveted time slots following American Idol, which led Wednesday's ratings with 26.8 million viewers at 8 p.m. Fox more than doubled its closest competitor on the night, NBC, whose game show Deal or No Deal was the top-rated runner up at 8, blazing past its counterpart in the hour, CBS's Power of 10, with 13.8 million viewers compared with 3.9 million. CBS ranked third overall, faring better later in the night with Criminal Minds at 9 (12.9 million) and CSI: NY at 10 (11.7 million). ABC was a distant fourth for the night.