Amy judged a hit, but Ally oops

On the second Tuesday of the new season, Nielsen's viewer jury found the Amy Brenneman vehicle guilty on several counts, including winning its 10 p.m. time slot and -- even more importantly -- improving substantially over its week-ago averages.

Nearly as bitchin' Tuesday was the stellar season premiere of Fox's ``That 70s Show,'' which shocked ratings watchers with an unexpected adults 18-49 victory at 8:30 p.m. ABC's ``Dharma & Greg'' also rebounded from a so-so premiere week to score a solid win in that key demographic in its second 9 p.m. faceoff with NBC's ``Will & Grace.''

Less impressive Tuesday was the first outing for ``Ally,'' Fox's attempt to squeeze more ratings mileage out of its Monday hit ``Ally McBeal'' by running a condensed 30-minute version of the original. It finished a weak fourth in its 8:30 p.m. time slot.

Boosted by the strong ratings for ``Judging Amy'' and double-digit tallies for ``JAG'' and ``60 Minutes II,'' CBS won the night in total viewers, and finished a solid second behind ABC in adults 25-54. CBS was up 21% in adults 18-49 vs. the previous week, and up 45% from the same night two years earlier, the last time CBS entered the fall with an all-series lineup on Tuesdays.

ABC topped the all-important adults 18-49 competition.

The night began at 8 p.m. with ``JAG'' soaring to its best-ever homes rating. Over at ABC, ``Spin City'' (11.25 million, 4.9/15 in adults 18-49) closed the gap considerably on NBC's ``Just Shoot Me'' (11.41 million, 5.3/16 in adults 18-49) and moved ahead in households (8.3 vs. 8.0).

``Spin's'' gains helped ABC's 8-10 p.m. comedy block move half a point ahead of NBC's in adults 18-49, though the lead may change hands when ABC's ratings-challenged ``Sports Night'' returns to the schedule next week. Compared with its hot week-earlier season start, NBC's Tuesday comedy block cooled by 25% in adults 18-49 (5.1 vs. 6.8).

Initial results, meanwhile, for ``Ally'' were ho-hum (7.27 million, 3.7/11 in adults 18-49), with the series falling 5% from the disappointing 18-49 average for ``King of the Hill'' in that slot last season (3.7 vs. 3.9). ``Ally'' did manage sizable increases in young-female demos over ``King's'' male-skewing results.

Equally woeful results came from ABC's ``It's Like, You Know...'' (8.33 million viewers, 4.0/11 in adults 18-49), which pulled the network deep into fourth in adults 18-49 for the 8:30 half-hour.

``It's Like'' collapsed opposite hot competition from ``That '70s Show'' (11.26 million, 6.0/17), which scored a Fox slot-record rating for regular series fare.

The hot Tuesday start for ``That '70s Show'' is a vindication for Fox for sticking with the retro-sitcom through a rookie season of uninspiring Nielsens. The network apparently built the show's following over the summer by heavily promoting its Monday run, which included five firstrun airings.

At 9 p.m., ``Dharma & Greg'' (13.31 million viewers, 6.5/17 in adults 18-49) brushed off the weak ``It's Like'' lead-in and moved ahead of NBC's ``Will & Grace'' (12.99 million, 6.1/16 in adults 18-49) in adults 18-49.

A ``Dharma'' rerun at 9:30 (13.54 million, 7.0/18 in adults 18-49) dealt another crushing blow to the survival hopes of NBC's ``Mike O'Malley Show'' (8.40 million, 4.0/10 in adults 18-49). ``O'Malley'' plunged to fourth that half-hour in the 18-49 demo, retaining less than 70% of its leadin.

At 10 p.m., ABC's ``Once and Again'' (13.45 million, 6.9/19 in adults 18-49) and CBS' ``Judging Amy'' (15.70 million, 5.3/15) are looking like twin rookie-drama successes in that hour, though ``Once'' is still slated to make room for ``NYPD Blue'' in November.

Each household rating point represents an estimated 994,000 homes, or 1% of the country's TV households. Each adults 18-49 rating point represents 1.239 million viewers, 1% of the U.S. total. A share is the same sort of percentage, except it's measured against only the homes or viewers watching TV during the time slot involved.