Fox cooked up a winning ratings recipe last night thanks to two of its culinary reality hits, while NBC brought in the most overall viewers with 8.6 million.
The season finale of Hell's Kitchen won the 8p.m. hour, with a 3.2 rating with adults 18-49 and 7.1 million viewers. That's a 19% decline from the series' fall finale, though overall viewership is notably greater in the fall.
MasterChef appears to have plateaued in ratings, with its third episode marking its third consecutive 2.7 in the key 18-49 demo, but the series also saw viewership jump 4% from last week. However, the Ramsay spin-off will face a new challenge next week without Hell's whetting audiences' appetites for the chef.
NBC landed second place, thanks to America's Got Talent brining in a 2.9 rating--a steady 3% increase from last week--with adults 18-49. The talent showcase was the nights' most-viewed show overall, bringing in 10.5 million viewers from 9-11p.m
The network's repeat of Minute to Win It significantly outperformed the now-canceled Breakthrough with Tony Robbins, which lay itself to rest in the 8 p.m. slot last week with a preliminary 0.7 rating with the 18-49 demo. Minute more than doubled this among the same group, earning a 1.5 rating and brining in an audience of 5.0 million.
On ABC, Shaq Vs. fell half a ratings point from last week's season premiere and saw a nearly one-third decline in viewership. However, last night's episode marks continued year-to-year imporovement for the show's time period, with a 70% increase in total viewers and 75% increase with adults 18-49 on the year-ago night for original programming.
Wipeout did just that, falling 10% in ratings from last week and hitting a Tuesday low 2.6 in the 18-49 demo.
Plain Jane's 8 p.m. rerun on the CW continues to outshine its new airings on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. with a steady 0.5 rating. Last week's premiere dud 18 to Life continued to sink in ratings last night.
Nightly averages saw Fox win out with an
average of 2.9/9. NBC came in second with 2.4/7 and ABC followed with a 1.8/6. CBS and CW lagged behind with 1.2/4 and 0.4/1, respectively.
