Reality bites Wednesday competish

Morning Ratings Flash - Rick Kissell

By RICK KISSELL

It was a great night for reality premieres on Wednesday, as the bows of CBS' "Star Search" and ABC's "The Bachelorette" and "Celebrity Mole: Hawaii" delivered strong ratings, according to preliminary nationals from Nielsen. Overall, ABC won in adults 18-49 while NBC won in adults 25-54 and total viewers.

At 9, "The Bachelorette" (8.5/20 in adults 18-49, 17.6 million viewers overall) was the night's highest-rated show of the night in key demos, outperforming every episode except the finale of last fall's "The Bachelor." It bested NBC's second-place "West Wing" (4.7/11) by 81% in adults 18-49.

And at 10, "Mole" (5.3/14 in adults 18-49, 10.8 million viewers overall) held onto a good chunk of its lead-in but placed second to NBC's strong "Law & Order" (7.2/19 in adults 18-49, 19.5 million viewers). "Mole" gave ABC its best series showing in the Wednesday-at-10 hour in more than 2 1/2 years.

"Star Search" won the 8 o'clock hour in both adults 18-49 (5.2/14) and total viewers (14.3 million). Other than the "Country Music Awards," it's the net's best showing in the hour this season.

Fox ran fourth in adults 18-49 but first among teens and kids with the net preem of "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me."

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: ABC, 5.9/15; NBC, 5.3/14; CBS, 3.9/10; Fox, 3.6/9.

In total viewers: NBC, 14.8 million; ABC, 13.1 million; CBS, 11.8 million; Fox, 8.4 million.