Hot Topics:

Serials slump on Wednesday

Ratings Flash - Rick Kissell

Cheatwood leaves CNN for Fox News

Cross, Christensen are in 'Hell'

Time Warner nabs Disney networks

'Underbelly' creator signs WB deal

Oprah gets steamy with HBO(6370 views)

Weitz digs 'Gardener'(3592 views)

Brothers(3544 views)

ABC adopts 'Find My Family' show(3173 views)

Joshua Jackson's captain of 'UFO'(2561 views)

'New Moon' shines at box office(2521 views)

Perhaps it's spring break or better weather in general across the country, but young adults didn't show up in big numbers Wednesday for serial dramas "Lost," "Jericho" and "Friday Night Lights" — each of which hit or approached series-low ratings levels.

According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, Fox won each half-hour of the night with its solid lineup of "Bones" (3.4 rating/10 share in adults 18-49, 10.3 million viewers overall), the "American Idol" results show (9.5/26 in 18-49, 25.3 million viewers overall) and comedy "Til Death" (5.5/15 in 18-49, 13.7 million viewers overall). "Idol," even with its lowest regular score of the season, still matched the combined demo share delivery of ABC, CBS, NBC, CW and Univision.

At ABC, following an hour of "George Lopez" (2.2/7 in 18-49, 6.3 million viewers overall) and 9 o'clock comedies "According to Jim" (2.1/6 in 18-49, 5.4 million viewers overall) and "In Case of Emergency" (1.9/5 in 18-49, 4.8 million viewers overall), "Lost" hit firstrun lows (4.8/13 in 18-49, 11.5 million viewers overall); the drama still remained in control of its 10 o'clock time period, though.

CBS rookie "Jericho" (2.1/6 in 18-49, 7.9 million viewers overall) was weaker than usual at 8 o'clock, followed by solid-performing repeats of dramas "Criminal Minds" (2.9/8 in 18-49, 10.3 million viewers overall) and "CSI: NY" (3.0/8 in 18-49, 10.3 million viewers overall). Similarly, NBC's "Friday Night Lights" was on the low end of its range kicking off the night (1.9/6 in 18-49, 5.4 million viewers overall) before the net picked up at 10 with "Medium" (2.6/7 in 18-49, 8.4 million viewers overall), although it remained in third place.

CW ranked second to Fox in key female demos behind "America's Next Top Model" (2.5/8 in 18-49, 5.2 million viewers overall) and a repeat of the previous night's "Pussycat Dolls: Search for the Next Doll" (1.5/4 in 18-49, 3.2 million viewers overall). "Model" led the 8 o'clock hour in adults 18-34 (3.2/10), while "Pussycat Dolls" beat NBC and ABC in adults 18-34 (1.8/5).

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 5.4/15; ABC, 3.0/8; CBS, 2.7/8; NBC, 2.2/6; CW, 2.0/6; Univision, 1.7/5.

In total viewers: Fox, 14.9 million; CBS, 9.5 million; ABC, 7.8 million; NBC, 7.1 million; CW, 4.2 million; Univision, 4.0 million.