Fox easily led the broadcast nets on Wednesday night with American Idol and the special preview of
the new Kiefer Sutherland series Touch,
posting an overall 5.2 rating/14 share in the 18-49 demo, according to Nielsen
overnight ratings.
AmericanIdol was down 30% from last year's second Wednesday airing – a two-hour episide compared to this week's one-hour version – to a 6.4.
Week-to-week, Idol was also down 14% from its two-hour premiere.
Touch, which officially premieres
March 19, netted a strong 3.9 with the Idol
lead-in, up 22% over Terra Nova's
premiere in Sept. 2011.
CBS was a distant second at an overall 2.9/8. Criminal Minds, following a repeat, was up 13% to a 3.6. At 10 p.m., actress Marg Helgenberger's last episode on CSI drew a 3.3, up 18% over last week and a season high.
NBC's Whitney,
down 13%, and Are You There, Chelsea?,
down 18%, hit a 1.4 – both series lows. NBC, also airing repeats of Law & Order: SVU, was in fourth at an overall 1.3/4.
The CW aired a new One Tree Hill, which was steady at a 0.7, and a repeat ofnew series ReModeled for an overall 0.5./1. ABC, in third, aired all repeats
for an overall 1.5/4.
