Lie to Me pulled in 12.4 million viewers and a 4.9 rating/12 share among the 18-49 demo, but lost a substantial amount of viewers over the course of its 60 minutes. I guess people were waiting for Tim Roth to sing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Lost’s two-hour premiere averaged 11.4 million viewers but grabbed a 5/12 in the 18-49 demo–just barely topping Lie to Me.

Lost’s premiere was down 25 percent from last season in the prized demo, but had more competition in the form of whatever-is-on-behind-American Idol. Surprisingly, the one-hour clip-show of Lost fared fairly well against Idol, raking in 8.4 million and a 3.3/9. Lost’s numbers are expected to go up dramatically thanks to those people in your office who are running around with their hands clasped over their ears screaming, “Don’t tell me! Don’t tell me!” because they’re going to watch it tonight on their DVRs.

This is a classic battle between a procedural show and one with a serialized format. It sounds like “Lie to Me” lost a good portion of its viewers throughout the hour, so it will be interesting to see how the show does next week. Many people watch the premiere of a new show (especially one with as much pub as “Lie to Me” received from Fox) and decide then if they’re going to return the following week. Sounds like more than a few people decided midstream that it wasn’t for them.