It was a risky yet ingenious gamble, scooping up an online program with a pair of proven television producers behind it to fill in some of the programming gaps left by the recent writers’ strike.

But NBC may have been a little too far ahead of the curve in the inevitable internet-to-TV programming movement. It seems viewers aren’t all that interested yet, despite stellar reviews for the show.

“Quarterlife,” which first aired as a series of webisodes on MySpace and quarterlife.com, debuted to a dismal 1.6 adults 18-49 rating in a special preview last night at 10 p.m., according to Nielsen overnights. The show lost more than half of its “Biggest Loser” lead-in in the demographic and placed a distant third in the timeslot, barely ahead of Univision.

Even among adults 18-34, who might better relate to the show’s video blog concept, the drama from “thirtysomething” and “My So-Called Life” producers Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick averaged a third-place 1.6. Just under 3.9 million total viewers tuned in.

Certainly “quarterlife” could see a boost when DVR numbers come out in a few weeks, since the show about twentysomethings, like DVR households, skews young.

Perhaps the show didn’t reach its full potential because these episodes had already aired online and in a special MTV sneak peek yesterday. And perhaps it will see numbers pick up when it moves to its regular Sunday 9 p.m. slot this weekend.

But the early numbers were certainly not impressive. Still, NBC won’t really lose much on this gamble. Media people agree it was an interesting way to fill air time, and more online-to-television migration is bound to happen in the future. But how long NBC will stick with “quarterlife” may depend on whether it slips from this already low level.

Meanwhile, Fox finished first for the night among viewers 18-49 with a 9.4 average overnight rating and a 23 share. NBC was second at 2.6/7, CBS third at 2.3/6, ABC fourth at 1.8/5, Univision fifth at 1.6/4 and CW sixth at 1.1/3.
 
At 8 p.m. Fox lead with a 10.9 for its first hour of “American Idol,” followed by NBC with a 2.7 for its first hour of “Loser.” CBS was third with a 2.1 for a repeat of “NCIS,” Univision fourth with a 2.0 for “Al Diablo con los Guapos,” ABC fifth with a 1.3 for an hour of “Just for Laughs” and CW sixth with a 0.7 for a “Reaper” rerun.
 
Fox led again at 9 p.m. with a 7.9 average for the end of “Idol” and an episode of “Back to You” (4.5), while NBC held onto second with a 3.5 for the second half of “Loser.” CBS was third with a 2.6 for “Big Brother,” Univision fourth with a 1.5 for “Pasion,” CW fifth with a 1.4 for “One Tree Hill” and ABC sixth with a 1.3 average for “According to Jim” (1.4) and “Carpoolers” (1.2).
 
ABC jumped into the lead at 10 p.m. with a 2.9 for “Primetime,” with CBS second with a 2.2 for “Jericho.” NBC was third with a 1.6 for the premiere of “quarterlife” and Univision fourth with a 1.3 for “Aqui y Ahora.”
 
Among households, Fox was first for the night with a 13.9 average overnight rating and a 21 share, followed by CBS at 5.3/8, NBC at 4.3/7, ABC at 3.7/6, Univision at 2.0/3 and CW at 1.7/3.