The DC Comics-based TV series Human Target faltered in its regular timeslot debut on Wednesday holding on to just over a third of the audience that American Idol generated in front of it.  Preliminary ratings gave Idol a 9.8 (26.7 million), while Human Target notched a 3.4 (10.4 million), which was down 30% from that of Lie to Me, the drama that followed the first Idol broadcast a year ago.  Of course these preliminary ratings do not take into account the “Tivo effect”— some viewers of ABC’s popular comedy American Family (4.1) and other shows may have had their recorders timed to capture Human Target.

The Human Target series debuted on Sunday with solid, but not spectacular numbers as it attracted some 10.1 million viewers as a lead-in to Fox’s 24 in spite of strong competition from the overrun of the NFL playoff game on CBS and the Golden Globes on NBC. A repeat of the original episode posted even better numbers on Tuesday night, when following Idol, it earned a 3.4, making it the highest rated nework scripted series of the night.  After the strong performance of the repeat of Sunday night's show, the Wednesday ratings for Human Target were disappointing, but may be Idol viewers just developed "Target' fatigue.

If the series can maintain the quality it demonstrated in last night’s episode, which had Chi McBride’s Winston joining Chance (Mark Valley) in the field as they thwart an attempted assassination on an airliner, either it should be able to attract a decent audience eventually or the future for scripted network drama is very bleak indeed.