CBS Evening News EP Rick Kaplan, CBS News & Sports president Sean McManus, and Evening News anchor and managing editor Katie Couric in the newsroom this afternoon.

CBS News & Sports president Sean McManus dropped in to the newsroom about an hour ago to toast the Evening News crew for last night’s double newscasts: one at the regular time and the first-ever prime time newscast at 8pm. “It was just his way of saying thanks to everyone for this run we’ve had,” says an insider. “We weren’t even prepared to get a 1 rating up against ‘American Idol, and it wasn’t even about the ratings.”

Turns out, in younger viewers (A18-49) the 8pm newscast drew a 2.0 rating/5 share to Idol’s 7.3 rating/18 share.

(Photo: Mo Cashin/CBS News)

• Couric 2nd in Total Viewers, 5th in Demo in Prime Time

• The “First Ever Evening Newscast in Prime Time”

> Update: Final national Nielsen ratings (Household Rating/Share, 18-49 Rating/Share):

American Idol
14.2/22 9.4/25

CBS Evening News
3.9/6 1.1/3

Knight Rider
3.7/6 1.8/5

Lost
3.4/5 1.7/4