Fox cruises to another Wednesday win

With repeats dotting the usually solid lineups on ABC and CBS, Fox had a dominating victory last night.

“American Idol” held nearly all of last week’s rating, averaging a 5.4 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., according to Nielsen, down very slightly from a 5.5 last week.

Compared to the same night last year, “Idol” was down 9 percent from a 5.9.

It was, of course, the night’s top-rated program, and “Idol”-fueled Fox also beat the combined average of ABC, CBS and ABC on the night.

Between them, ABC and CBS aired only three new programs last night.

ABC had new episodes of “The Neighbors” (1.6) and “Suburgatory” (1.8), which both dropped to series lows without original episodes of their stronger lead-ins (“The Middle” and “Modern Family”).

And CBS aired “Super Bowl’s Greatest Commercials,” which averaged a 2.1, up 0.1 from last year and finished second to “Idol” at 8 p.m.

All of NBC’s shows were down from their most recent original outings three weeks ago, before “Idol” returned. But “Chicago Fire” continued to show promise at 10 p.m., averaging a 2.0, building by 18 percent on its “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” lead-in and bettering its season average by a tenth.

Fox led the night among 18-49s with a 5.4 average overnight rating and a 14 share. CBS was second at 1.8/5, NBC third at 1.6/4, ABC fourth at 1.5/4, Univision fifth at 1.4/4, CW sixth at 0.9/2 and Telemundo seventh at 0.4/1.

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. Fox was first with a 5.1 for “Idol,” followed by CBS with a 2.1 for “Commercials.” Univision was third with a 1.7 for “Por Ella Soy Eva,” ABC fourth with a 1.5 for a repeat of “Middle” (1.3) and a new “Neighbors” (1.6), NBC fifth with a 1.2 for “Whitney” (1.3) and “Guys with Kids” (1.1), CW sixth with a 0.9 for “Arrow” and Telemundo seventh with a 0.4 for “Pasion Prohibida.”

Fox was first again at 9 p.m. with a 5.7 for more “Idol,” while ABC moved to second with a 2.0 for a repeat of “Family” (2.1) and a new “Suburgatory” (1.8). NBC was third with a 1.7 for “SVU,” CBS fourth with a 1.6 for a “Criminal Minds” rerun, Univision fifth with a 1.5 for “Amores Verdaderos,” CW sixth with a 0.9 for “Supernatural” and Telemundo seventh with a 0.5 for “La Patrona.”

NBC took the lead at 10 p.m. with a 2.0 for “Fire,” with CBS second with a 1.6 for a repeat of “CSI.” Univision was third with a 1.1 for “Amor Bravio,” ABC fourth with a 0.9 for a repeat of “Nashville” and Telemundo fifth with a 0.4 for “El Rostro de la Venganza.”

Fox finished first for the night among households with a 9.1 average overnight rating and a 14 share. CBS was second at 5.2/8, NBC third at 3.8/6, ABC fourth at 3.0/5, Univision fifth at 1.9/3, CW sixth at 1.6/2, and Telemundo seventh at 0.6/1.

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