Overnights
Fox's 'Hell's Kitchen' in ratings swelter
By Toni Fitzgerald
Jul 24, 2007 - 11:36:50 AM

There’s been loads of coverage of British chef Gordon Ramsay’s off-camera woes in recent weeks, from the lawsuit alleging fakery in his upcoming fall Fox show to acknowledgement of a faux fish story in a recent British series.

But all that publicity seems to be helping Ramsay’s current Fox series, which scored its second-highest-rated episode of the summer last night, averaging a 4.1 in adults 18-49, according to Nielsen overnights.

“Hell’s Kitchen” peaked with a 4.3 rating in its final half hour at 9:30, up 10 percent from a 3.9 in its first half.

It was up slightly over last week’s 4.0, and scored the third-year cooking competition show’s best rating since a 4.3 on June 11.

The boost for “Hell’s” comes amid some potentially damaging allegations against Ramsay. In his fall Fox series “Kitchen Nightmares,” he helps restaurants across the U.S. shape up. A suit filed recently by the manager of a Manhattan eatery claims that Ramsay trumped some of the problems to add more drama, hence damaging the restaurant’s reputation.

Meanwhile, in Britain, Ramsay’s production company admitted to splicing scenes together for another of his shows that made it appear the foul-tempered Brit speared a fish. He didn’t.

“Hell’s” strong performance helped Fox to yet another Monday victory. The network was first for the night among viewers 18-49 with a 3.5 average overnight rating and an 11 share. CBS was second at 2.2/7, NBC third at 2.0/6, ABC fourth at 1.9/6, Univision fifth at 1.5/4 and CW sixth at 0.7/2.
 
Fox started the night in the lead with a 2.8 rating at 8 p.m. for an hour of “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader,” followed by ABC with a 1.9 for a repeat of “Wife Swap.” CBS was third with a 1.7 average for repeats of “How I Met Your Mother” and “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” NBC fourth with a 1.5 for a repeat of “Age of Love,” Univision fifth with a 1.0 for “Amar sin Limites” and CW sixth with a 0.8 for repeats of “Everybody Hates Chris” and “All of Us.”
 
At 9 p.m. Fox led again, growing to a 4.1 among 18-49s for “Hell’s Kitchen,” with CBS moving to second with a 2.5 for repeats of “Two and a Half Men” and “How I Met Your Mother.” NBC was third with a 2.2 for a new “Love,” ABC fourth with a 1.8 for the first hour of “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock,” Univision fifth with a 1.6 for “Destilando Amor” and CW sixth with a 0.6 for repeats of “Girlfriends” and “The Game.”
 
CBS took the top spot during the 10 p.m. hour with a 2.4 for a repeat of “CSI: Miami,” while NBC grabbed second with a 2.3 for “Dateline.” ABC was third that hour with a 2.0 for its second hour of “CMA Music Festival” and Univision fourth with a 1.8 for “Cristina.”
 
Among households, Fox led the night with a 5.2 average overnight rating and a 9 share, with CBS second at 4.7/8, ABC third at 4.1/7, NBC fourth at 3.7/6, Univision fifth at 1.8/3 and CW sixth at 1.2/2.