'Idol' crushes competition
Results show dominates primetime ratings
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Wednesday also saw CW's "America's Next Top Model" deliver season highs as it nears its conclusion next month, and CBS rolled at 10 p.m. with a special firstrun episode of "Criminal Minds" in what appears to be a trial balloon for a possible fall sked switch.
According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, "American Idol" (8.1 rating/21 share in adults 18-49, 23.3 million viewers overall) more than doubled the demo score for any other program on Wednesday, on par with its performance from the previous week. Dipping some was 8 o'clock rookie drama "Lie to Me" (2.3/7 in 18-49, 7.9 million viewers overall), although it won its rather lackluster hour in most broad categories.
CW's "America's Next Top Model" was on the rise (1.9/6 in 18-49, 4.0 million viewers overall), placing second to "Lie to Me" in 18-49 while winning the 8 o'clock hour in adults 18-34 (2.1/7). It especially dominated among women 18-34 (3.4/11), logging the show's best number since its fall finale in November.
At CBS, a special 10 p.m. firstrun episode of "Criminal Minds," the latest in a series of unusual timeslot schedulings on the CBS sked this week, won easily with a 3.5/9 in 18-49 and 13.5 million viewers overall -- easily the best numbers for a scripted program on Wednesday; by comparison, an original episode of usual timeslot occupant "CSI: NY" last week pulled a 2.9/8 in the demo and 12.1 million viewers overall. Earlier, repeats of "The New Adventures of Old Christine" (1.4/5 in 18-49, 5.2 million viewers overall) and "Gary Unmarried" (1.7/5 in 18-49, 5.5 million viewers overall) didn't do much, with the net then picking up some at 9 p.m. with a repeat "Criminal Minds" in its regular timeslot (2.3/6 in 18-49, 9.8 million viewers overall).
ABC was led by a "Lost" clip show at 9 p.m. (2.9/7 in 18-49, 6.6 million viewers overall) but again dropped off at 10 p.m. with rookie drama "The Unusuals" (1.6/4 in 18-49, 5.0 million viewers overall). In the night's opening hour, 8:30 laffer "Better Off Ted" continues to hang in there (1.7/5 in 18-49, 4.2 million viewers overall), again nearly at the level of lead-in "Scrubs" (1.8/6 in 18-49, 4.7 million viewers overall).
NBC was slow all night with its repeats from the "Law & Order" franchise, peaking at 10 p.m. with the motherhood edition (1.8/5 in 18-49, 6.1 million viewers overall).
Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 5.2/15; CBS, 2.5/7; ABC, 2.1/6; NBC and Univision, 1.5/4; CW, 1.2/3.
In total viewers: Fox, 15.6 million; CBS, 9.6 million; NBC, 5.8 million; ABC, 5.3 million; Univision, 3.8 million; CW, 2.6 million.
