Fox comedies off to slow start

'Bones' still solid but sitcoms falter

By RICK KISSELL

The season's second episode of crime skein 'Bones' won the 8 o'clock hour Wednesday for Fox.

The CW's 'America's Next Top Model' placed second among adults 18-34.

Fox got another solid performance from “Bones” on Wednesday night but the net’s comedy combo of “‘Til Death” and the premiering “Do Not Disturb” put up tame numbers in their early-season launches.

According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, “Bones” (3.0 rating/9 share in adults 18-49, 9.15 million viewers overall) won the night’s opening hour by 2 shares in the demo, retaining most of its season-premiere delivery of the previous week.

But there was little to cheer about in the 9 o’clock hour with the season premiere of “‘Til Death” (2.3/6 in 18-49, 6.06m) and the series bow of “Do Not Disturb” (1.9/5, 4.65m), with the latter running third or fourth in various demo categories.

Fox has had little luck in landing a laffer hit outside of its animated block on Sunday, and “Do Not Disturb” doesn’t appear to be the show to change things.

Elsewhere, after finishing second to “Bones” in its first hour, the Peacock’s “America’s Got Talent” won its two-hour block from 8 to 10 p.m. in most broad categories (2.9/8 in 18-49, 11.70m), rising week to week and standing as the night’s most-watched program overall.

At CW, “America’s Next Top Model” (2.0/6 in 18-49, 3.86m) placed a close second to “Bones” in the 8 o’clock hour among adults 18-34 (2.4/8 vs. 2.5/8), growing across the board vs. its week-earlier two-hour season premiere. The net then got pretty good mileage out of a repeat of the previous night’s “90210” (1.2/3, 2.28m).

Night’s top draw on cable was Bravo’s “Project Runway” (2.0/5 in 18-49, 3.86m), which posted its highest scores of this cycle. And at FX, drama “Sons of Anarchy” (1.1/3, 2.20m) held steady in its second week.

In latenight, a visit by Barack Obama helped CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman” match its second best overnight delivery of the calendar year. In Nielsen’s metered markets, “Late Show” earned a 4.1 household rating/10 share, edging out NBC’s “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” (3.9/10).