'Wipeout,' 'Talent' top primetime ratings

Reality shows top draws in key demos

By RICK KISSELL

One week away from the debut of fall programming on the night, ABC's "Wipeout" and NBC's "America's Got Talent" were the top draws in key demos on Wednesday.

ABC, which won Wednesday in young-adult categories, was led by "Wipeout" (projected 2.7 rating/9 share in adults 18-49, 7.7 million viewers overall from 8 to 9:02 p.m.) -- the top program of the night in adults 18-49. It led into "Crash Course" (projected 1.7/5 in 18-49, 4.4 million viewers overall from 9:02 to 10 p.m.), which was down some from its week-earlier premiere, and "Primetime: Crime" (1.9/6 in 18-49, 6.6 million viewers overall), which won at 10 o'clock in some key categories.

NBC's "America's Got Talent" (2.6/8 in 18-49, 12.1 million viewers overall) was neck and neck with "Wipeout" as the night's top show in 18-49, but was down more than 10% week to week; still, it towered over every other program on the night in total viewers, logging the largest overall audience for any Wednesday series telecast on any net this summer. Closing things out for the Peacock was a solid performance for a repeat of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1.8/5 in 18-49, 6.1 million viewers overall), a show that will air at 9 p.m. on the night this fall.

CBS opened with a repeat of "The New Adventures of Old Christine" (1.1/4 in 18-49, 4.5 million viewers overall) and then slipped some with the special "CBS Fall Preview" (0.9/3 in 18-49, 3.8 million viewers overall). It recovered a bit the rest of the way with repeats of "Criminal Minds" (1.7/5 in 18-49, 7.0 million viewers overall) and "CSI: NY" (1.5/4 in 18-49, 6.5 million viewers overall).

At Fox, a special "So You Think You Can Dance" at 8 o'clock (1.9/6 in 18-49, 4.6 million viewers overall) placed second, leading into a repeat of the special preview episode of "Glee" (1.8/5 in 18-49, 4.1 million viewers overall) that aired in May behind "American Idol." "Glee" placed second in 18-49 and tied with NBC's "Talent" for the hour's lead among adults 18-34 (1.8/6).

"Dance" begins its first fall season next week, followed by the official series premiere of "Glee." Both shows will get a two-week head start on other Big Four fall programming in the hour. CW launches its new season of "America's Next Top Model" with a two-hour episode next Wednesday.

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: ABC, 2.1/6; NBC, 1.9/6; Fox, 1.8/6; CBS and CW, 1.4/4; CW, 0.5/2.

In total viewers: NBC, 8.5 million; ABC, 6.2 million; CBS, 5.9 million; Fox, 4.4 million; Univision, 3.6 million; CW, 1.3 million.