Lights! Camera! Viewers?

That was no blockbuster opening for On the Lot.

The reality show about aspiring filmmakers got squashed like Bug going up against the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie, averaging just 6.4 million viewers in its first two broadcasts.

In the case of On the Lot, the Dancing with the Stars finale was its At World's End. In a head-to-head matchup last week, ABC's ballroom competition bested Fox's screening-room competition, 23 million viewers (third place) to 7.6 million (28th place), per the latest weekly Nielsen Media Research rankings released Wednesday.

And while it's one thing to lose out to a hot property like Dancing—on its Apolo Anton Ohno-celebrating night, no less—it's another thing to lose out while airing after the hottest property, American Idol.

On the Lot, befitting its Steven Spielberg-Mark Burnett pedigree, both moguls are executive producers on the show, was picked to premiere following Idol's penultimate episode. In the 8 p.m. Tuesday time slot, the Blake Lewis-Jordin Sparks sing-off averaged 25.3 million (second place). Then came along On the Lot at 9 p.m., and there went Fox's audience—the show went on to lose 70 percent of its Idol largesse.

Without its Idol entree on Thursday, On the Lot's results were worse: 5.2 million viewers (51st place).

On the upside, Thursday's On the Lot merely lost 45 percent of its lead-in, the season premiere of summer's typically sturdy So You Think You Can Dance (20th place, 9.5 million).

On the Lot was announced with much press-release fanfare in April 2006. The hook was not so much the concept—although its premiere was novel in that it eschewed the usual Idol-celebrated funny/bad auditions—but the names: Spielberg, the Oscar-winning legend, and Burnett, the Survivor guru. Neither, however, was on hand for the opener, outside of their names in the end credits. Star Wars star Carrie Fisher and directors Brett Ratner and Garry Marshall supplied the recognizable faces—all were judges, none was a brutal Simon Cowell. (Since last week's debut, there's been one switch: original host Chelsea Handler was swapped out for Adrianna Costa.)

Set to air through the summer, On the Lot says it'll give its winner a $1 million deal with DreamWorks. Maybe after, he or she can come up with a hit reality show.

Elsewhere, in ratings highlights for the TV week ended Sunday:

• This is its now: Idol's Sparks-flying finale (30.7 million viewers, first place) averaged nearly 6 million viewers less than last season's Taylor Hicks-coronation, and nearly 7 million viewers less than this season's inaugural episode.
• ABC's Lost (sixth place, 13.9 million), NBC's Heroes (eighth place, 13.5 million), and ABC's The Bachelor (10th place, 12.7 million) all made it back into the top 10. Now, if they can arrange it so they always air really important episodes (i.e., finales) in a week where about half the series have begun their rerun vacations, they can take up permanent residence there.   
• Fox's 24 might want to reset its coordinates. In January, its season premiere averaged 15.8 million; last week, its season finale averaged 10.3 million (15th place).
• No, ABC's National Bingo Night (42nd place, 5.5 million) isn't a hit, but it sure does make Grandma happy.
• The CBS TV-movie Jesse Stone: Sea Change (ninth place, 13 million) was, in fact, a hit. Bingo's fun and all, but Grandma really loves her some Tom Selleck.    
• Did you know NBC has started burning off its supply of unused Studio 60s? Judging by the ratings in its Thursday-night premiere (76th place, 3.9 million), probably not.
• ABC's Desperate Housewives (78th place, 3.5 million) is still a lousy rerun, but at least now it has company from Brothers & Sisters (86th place, 3.1 million).   
• In daytime, The View helped make ABC the highest-rated network among young women, aged 18-49, at least for the week of May 14, aka Rosie O'Donnell's last full week of work.

Overall, the smaller than usual Idol finale was more than big enough to lift Fox to weekly wins as both the most watched network (11.6 million) and the highest rated network among young adults. The first half of the week constituted the final days of the 2006-07 season; the second half of the week constituted the first days of prime-time's summer.

CBS finished second in viewers (9 million), while ABC took second in the demo, thanks to Dancing. (Not even Dancing, though, could take ABC higher than third place in viewers; the network averaged 8.7 million.)

NBC (5.6 million) claimed a pair of fourth-place finishes, aired the least watched non-sports show on the big four networks (a Sunday rerun of Friday Night Lights—91st place, 2.2 million), and switched entertainment presidents after, per slate.com, an anonymous tipster leaked word of the network's plan to switch entertainment presidents.

But other than that...

Well, Law & Order: SVU (16th place, 10.3 million) enjoyed an okay season finale.

Here's a look at the 10 most watched prime-time shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:

1. American Idol (Wednesday), Fox, 30.7 million viewers
2. American Idol (Tuesday), Fox, 25.3 million viewers
3. Dancing with the Stars (Tuesday), ABC, 23 million viewers
4. Dancing with the Stars (Monday), ABC, 20.2 million viewers
5. NCIS, CBS, 14.1 million viewers
6. Lost, ABC, 13.9 million viewers
7. CSI, CBS, 13.8 million viewers
8. Heroes, NBC, 13.5 million viewers
9. CBS Tuesday Movie Special (Jesse Stone: Sea Change), CBS, 13 million viewers
10. The Bachelor: Officer and a Gentleman, ABC, 12.7 million viewers