Fox takes the lead with 'Dance'

Reality contest dominates Wednesday ratings

By RICK KISSELL

Fox prevailed in key demos on the final Wednesday of July in typically easy fashion thanks to "So You Think You Can Dance."

Trimmed back to an hour as the number of contestants has dwindled, "So You Think You Can Dance" was near season lows but still dominated the 9 o'clock hour in demos with a 2.9 rating/8 share in adults 18-49 and 8.6 million viewers overall, according to preliminary Nielsen estimates. It built sharply on its lead-in from a repeat "Dance" (1.5/5 in 18-49, 4.7 million viewers overall), which tied for the 8 o'clock lead in 18-49.

At CBS, 8 p.m. reality competition "Greatest American Dog" fetched even lower numbers on its new night (1.5/5 in 18-49, 5.9 million viewers overall) but that was good enough for a share of the 18-49 lead and it was also the hour's most-watched program overall. It was followed by repeats of dramas "Criminal Minds" (1.7/5 in 18-49, 8.6 million viewers overall) and "CSI: NY" (1.7/5 in 18-49, 7.8 million viewers overall).

ABC was nothing special from 8 to 10 p.m. with repeats of "Wife Swap" (1.4/5 in 18-49, 4.0 million viewers overall) and "Supernanny" (1.4/4 in 18-49, 3.8 million viewers overall) but picked up at 10 o'clock with a slot-winning performance from newsmag "Primetime: Crime" (1.9/6 in 18-49, 6.2 million viewers overall).

NBC's "Baby Borrowers" ended its run with sub-par averages at 9 o'clock (2.1/6 in 18-49, 5.4 million viewers overall), as the first-year unscripted series faded after a pretty good start. Closing out the night, a repeat of "Law & Order" mustered a mere 1.2/4 in 18-49 and 4.2 million viewers overall.

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 2.2/7; ABC, CBS and Univision, 1.6/5; NBC, 1.5/5; CW, 0.3/1.

In total viewers: CBS, 7.5 million; Fox, 6.7 million; ABC, 4.7 million; NBC, 5.0 million; Univision, 3.6 million; CW, 0.7 million.