A smaller “House” still built a bigger “Fringe” for Fox.

The season premiere of “House” averaged a 5.5 in adults 18-49 at 8 p.m. last night, according to Nielsen overnights, off 29 percent from a 7.7 for last year’s premiere.

The show did debut a week earlier than last year, when it ran during the traditional premiere week. Still, it continued a pattern of declines for the show that began last spring when it returned from the writers’ strike.

But Fox easily won the night and, perhaps most importantly to the network, “House” gave a big boost to the much-hyped new drama “Fringe.” In its second episode, the show jumped 63 percent over last week’s season premiere, from a 3.2 to a 5.2.

It held an impressive 95 percent of its lead-in among 18-49s and averaged 13.4 million total viewers, just 1 million fewer than “House.”

Meanwhile, the third episode of the CW’s “90210” showed a little bounce after huge declines last week. The show rose week-to-week among adults 18-34, up 10 percent to a 2.3, and drew 3.3 million viewers, 3 percent better than the previous week. Both marks were still well below its series premiere two weeks ago.

Last night’s numbers came against tougher competition at 8 p.m. with “House” and the season premiere of NBC’s old reliable “The Biggest Loser,” which matched last year’s bow with a 3.1 in 18-49s for its two-hour episode.

Fox was first for the night among 18-49s with a 5.3 average overnight rating and a 14 share. NBC was second at 2.7/8, Univision and CBS tied for third at 2.0/6, ABC fifth at 2.0/5 and CW sixth at 1.4/4.
 
At 8 p.m. Fox led with a 5.5 for “House,” followed by NBC with a 2.8 for the first hour of “Loser.” Univision was third with a 2.4 for “Al Diablo con los Guapos,” ABC fourth with a 2.1 for the season finale of “Wipeout,” CBS fifth with a 1.8 for a repeat of “NCIS” and CW sixth with a 1.7 for “90210.”
 
Fox was first again at 9 p.m. with a 5.2 for “Fringe,” while NBC remained second with a 3.4 for more “Loser.” CBS was third with a season-high-tying 2.7 for the season finale of “Big Brother,” Univision fourth with a 2.2 for “Fuego en la Sangre,” ABC fifth with a 1.7 average for the last half hour of “Wipeout” (1.8) and the first 30 minutes of “Primetime” (1.7), and CW sixth with a 1.1 for “Privileged.”
 
At 10 p.m. ABC and NBC tied for the lead at 2.0, ABC for “Primetime” and NBC for a repeat of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” CBS was third with a 1.6 for a repeat of “Without a Trace” and Univision fourth with a 1.4 for “Aqui y Ahora.”
 
Fox also finished first for the night among households with an 8.5 average overnight rating and a 13 share. CBS was second at 5.2/9, NBC third at 4.7/8, ABC fourth at 3.6/6, Univision fifth at 2.3/4 and CW sixth at 2.0/3.