Life on Mars just grew a tad worse.

A week after premiering with the best numbers for a new drama this season, the ABC drama returned back to earth Thursday, falling behind shows on NBC and CBS.

The show lost 25% of its audience from its debut, earning just 8.5 million viewers last week; it finished behind NBC's ER (8.8 million viewers) and CBS' Eleventh Hour (12.0 million viewers).

Will viewers continue to flee from Life on Mars?

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.