A Very Hot "House"

Scurvy hasn't been this big since the Great Famine.

The third-season premiere of House, featuring a diagnosis of the vitamin C deficiency, was watched by an estimated 19.4 million, Fox said Wednesday.

The Tuesday opener was up 22 percent from last year's kickoff, and up 13 percent from last year's overall season average.

Debuting in the 9 p.m. slot after House, Fox's new Sex and Hostage Negotiations in the City hybrid, Standoff, enticed an estimated 13.7 million.

Both shows easily beat their top competition: CBS' Big Brother All Stars (an estimated 9 million viewers) and the weekly sing-off on Rock Star: Supernova (estimated 7.8 million).

The Tuesday numbers will be reflected in next week's Nielsen Media Research rankings.

The House and Standoff premieres, meanwhile, are the biggest yet for Fox, which is rolling out new product well in advance of the fall season's official Sept. 18 start.

Come October, however, most of the network's series, House included, will be off the air for a full month, waiting out the baseball playoffs and World Series.

If the sports-induced hiatus doesn't break its momentum, House could emerge as TV's top-rated medical series. Last season, in a close race, it was beat out for the title by Grey's Anatomy. But this fall, ABC's M.D. entry is moving to a new night and time opposite CSI, TV's top-rated anything not called American Idol.

To prep for the looming battle, the staff at Seattle Grace might consider stocking up on orange juice. House aside, scurvy can be a killer.

In other ratings tidbits:

Nearly 13.6 million checked out Katie Couric's and Suri Cruise's Tuesday debuts on the CBS Evening News, the Eye said. The ratings were nearly double those posted by ABC and NBC, and were CBS' biggest since the 1998 Winter Olympics. On Wednesday, Couric will try her luck sans Suri. The view for Rosie O'Donnell's inaugural View looked pretty good to ABC. Tuesday's ratings were up 36 percent from the same time last year, TVWeek.com reported. Rupert Murdoch's new MyNetworkTV launched Tuesday "in time periods deteriorated by viewer defection after the cancellation announcement of the WB and UPN networks," with shows "seeking a completely different audience than it inherited," "airing against the much-anticipated season premiere of House," and needing to overcome an "unfamiliar network brand." Still, the ratings for Fashion House and Desire appear to have outstripped the rationalizations, with the telenovela-inspired shows even beating barely watched Gilmore Girl repeats in New York City. Fashion House was watched by 600,000 in the Top 10 TV markets, MyNetworkTV said; Desire, by 491,000. The complete national numbers won't in until Thursday. Fox's Prison Break (fourth place, 9.4 million) was the most watched new show of the TV week ended Sunday, per Nielsen Media Research. The finale of NBC's Windfall (97th place, 3.3 million) wasn't. Fox's Bones (14th place, 8.6 million) opened its second season on par with its first. It was, however, outdrawn on Wednesday night by its 9 p.m. companion show, Justice (11th place, 8.9 million). Vanished (16th place, 8.5 million) won't disappear without Fox first ordering at least three more scripts, according to Daily Variety. ABC kicked off its new Saturday night college football franchise with a Notre Dame-esque performance--solid, not spectacular (13th place, 8.6 million). The dulcet tones of Hal Sparks presumably helped drive viewership for Fox's Celebrity Duets up 11 percent from its first hour (19th place, 7.9 million) to its second (12th place, 8.8 million). A preseason Monday Night Football contest on ESPN topped all cable competition with 6.7 million fans. ABC Family's Kyle XY completed its first season with a finale watched by 3 million. Host Jack Black couldn't turn around things for the MTV Video Music Awards, now on a four-year-long losing streak. The show's 5.8 million viewers represented a 28 percent decline from last year, and 51 percent drop from 2002.

Head start or no, a Fox without American Idol is a Fox that finishes third in total viewers (6.1 million) behind rerun-'riffic CBS (7 million) and ABC (6.3 million).

On the bright side for Fox, it did manage to beat NBC (5.8 million). And on the brighter side, Idol's sixth-season premiere is only four months away.

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

1. CSI: Miami, CBS, 10.8 million viewers
2. Law & Order: SVU, NBC, 9.9 million viewers
3. Two and a Half Men (9 p.m., Monday), CBS, 9.8 million viewers
4. Prison Break, Fox, 9.4 million viewers
5. 60 Minutes, CBS, 9.2 million viewers
6. Two and a Half Men (8 p.m., Monday), CBS, 9.16 million viewers
7. CSI, CBS, 9.1 million viewers
8. Without a Trace, CBS, 9.05 million viewers
9. Criminal Minds, CBS, 9 million viewers
10. CSI: NY, CBS, 8.9 million viewers