CBS wins a down night for broadcast

On a night when a number of shows saw steep week-to-week or, in the case of NBC’s new game show “Take It All,” night-to-night declines, CBS pulled out a narrow victory over Fox.

CBS averaged a 2.7 adults 18-49 rating and 7 share for the night, with Fox right behind at 2.6/7. ABC wasn’t too far back with a 2.4/7 to take third place.

CBS’s top show, “Criminal Minds,” was one of the night’s few programs seeing gains, up 3 percent week to week to a 3.1. Earlier in the night the last “Survivor” before Sunday night’s finale drew a 2.8, off 3 percent from the previous week.

ABC had the night’s top show, “Modern Family,” with a 4.2, but that was down 11 percent from its most recent original two weeks ago.

Earlier in the night, ABC’s “The Middle” and “The Neighbors” fell to season lows of 2.1 and 1.6, respectively.

The 9:30 p.m. special “Barbara Walters Presents: 10 Most Fascinating People of 2012″ also slid, down 9 percent from last year to a 2.1. For the second time in three years, Walters named Gen. David Petraeus most fascinating.

On NBC, the new game show “Take” saw its average drop sharply following two nights of decent ratings behind the network’s top program, “The Voice.”

“Take” managed just a 1.1, half of what it drew Tuesday, but that was no surprise. Last night “Take’s” lead-in was a repeat of “Guys with Kids,” which average a mere 1.0 rating. Tuesday night “Take’s” lead-in was “Voice,” which averaged a 3.6.

Earlier in the night NBC’s “Whitney” grew 8 percent from last week to tie a season high at 1.4.

On Fox, “The X Factor” slid 7 percent to a 2.6.

With CBS, Fox and ABC out ahead, Univision finished in fourth in primetime at 1.5/4, NBC fifth at 1.2/3, CW sixth at 0.8/2 and Telemundo seventh at 0.6/2.

As a reminder, all ratings are based on live-plus-same-day DVR playback, which includes shows replayed before 3 a.m. the night before. Seven-day DVR data won’t be available for several weeks. Forty-six percent of Nielsen households have DVRs.

At 8 p.m. CBS was first with a 2.8 for “Survivor,” followed by Fox with a 2.6 for “Factor.” ABC was third with a 1.9 for “Middle” (2.2) and “Neighbors” (1.6), Univision fourth with a 1.5 for “Por Ella Soy Eva,” NBC fifth with a 1.2 for “Whitney” (1.4) and a repeat of “Guys” (1.0), CW sixth with a 1.0 for “Arrow” and Telemundo seventh with a 0.5 for “Rosa Diamante.”

ABC moved to first at 9 p.m. with a 3.2 for “Family” (4.2) and the start of its Barbara Walters special (2.3), followed closely by CBS with a 3.1 for “Minds.” Fox was third with a 2.7 for more “Factor,” Univision fourth with a 1.7 for “Amores Verdaderos,” NBC fifth with a 1.1 for “Take,” CW sixth with a 0.7 for a repeat of the “Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show” and Telemundo seventh with a 0.6 for “Corazon Valiente.”

CBS regained the lead at 10 p.m. with a 2.2 for “CSI,” with ABC second with a 2.1 for the conclusion of its Barbara Walters special. NBC was third with a 1.4 for “Chicago Fire,” Univision fourth with a 1.3 for “Amor Bravio” and Telemundo fifth with a 0.7 for “Pablo Escobar: El Patron del Mal” (0.8) and “El Rostro de la Venganza” (0.5).

Among households, CBS was first for the night with a 6.6 average overnight rating and a 10 share. ABC was second at 5.0/8, Fox third at 4.6/7, NBC fourth at 2.5/4, Univision fifth at 1.9/3, CW sixth at 1.5/2 and Telemundo seventh at 0.8/1.

Tags: abc, barbara walters, broadcast, cbs, criminal minds, cw, dvr, modern family, nbc, overnight ratings, overnights, ratings, survivor, take it all, wednesday overnights