“American Idol’s” first-ever “Idol Gives Back” fundraiser is a noble idea and may well raise millions for charity. But it apparently did not hold as much interest as the usual singing competition for “Idol” fans.

The reality singing show fell to its lowest Tuesday rating of the season last night, a 10 final Nielsen rating among adults 18-49, as the contestants and a huge array of celebrity guests appealed to viewers to pledge money for numerous American and African charities.

Of course, a season low for “Idol” is still way ahead of every other show on television, and even though it was off 2 percent from last week’s then-season-low 10.2, “Idol” still crushed the competition on a very slow night. And it perked up from a 9.6 overnight.

There may also have been some tune-out with the improbable run of popular teenage singer Sanjaya Malakar ending last week. Though he was a polarizing figure, with many complaining that his off-key presence demeaned the talent competition, he did have a large faction of fans who could stop watching now that he’s been voted off.

Fox points out that "Idol" continues to pace ahead of last season year-to-date in total viewers, at 31 million to season five's 30.7 million.

As usual, “Idol” fueled Fox to a comfortable first-place finish among 18-49s on Tuesday night, as the network averaged a 9.1 overnight rating and a 24 share. CBS was second at 2.8/8, ABC third at 2.7/7, Univision fourth at 1.8/5, and NBC and CW tied for fifth at 1.7/4.
 
Fox led at 8 p.m. with its 9.6 for “Idol,” followed by CBS with a lower-than-usual 3.1 for “NCIS.” Univision was third that hour with a 1.9 for “La Fea Mas Bella,” the CW fourth with a 1.7 for “Gilmore Girls,” ABC fifth with a 1.6 for an hour of “George Lopez” and NBC sixth with a 1.3 for “Dateline.”
 
At 9 p.m. Fox led again with an 8.4 for “House,” with ABC second with a 4.2 for a “Dancing with the Stars” results show. CBS was third with a 2.9 for “The Unit,” Univision fourth with a 2.1 for “Destilando Amor,” CW fifth with a 1.6 for “The Pussycat Dolls Present: Search for the Next Doll” and NBC sixth with a 1.3 for a repeat of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.”
 
At 10 p.m. CBS led with a 2.4 for a repeat of “Cold Case,” ABC's "Boston Legal" and NBC's repeat of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” tied for second at 2.3, and Univision fourth with a 1.6 for “Nuestra Belleza Latina.”
 
Among households, Fox led the night with a 14.1 average rating and a 22 share. ABC and CBS tied for second at 6.9/11, with NBC fourth at 4.0/6, CW fifth at 2.6/4 and Univision sixth at 2.2/4.