RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘American Idol’, ‘Modern Family’ & ‘SVU’ Down, ‘Arrow’ & ‘Chicago P.D.’ Rise
They packed a lot of action into last night’s 2-hour live American Idol (1.8/6) on Fox with visits from New Girl‘s Zooey Deschanel, Jason Mraz’s debut as a mentor and the final Top 5 belting out tunes picked by viewers (including according to judge Keith Urban an “awesome” rendition of Whitesnake’s Still Of The Night). However, after seeing upward traction last week, last night’s singing competition fell 14% from its April 23 episode. As preliminary ratings stand right now, Idol hit an all-time Wednesday low last night, though that could change in adjustments later today.
The other long-running reality show of the night might not have seemed as busy as Idol, but Survivor (2.2/7) did have an immunity idol, an auction and of course someone went home from the Tribal Council. That said, the show dipped 4% from last week. In preliminary numbers that’s a season low for Survivor but the show commonly adjusts upward a tenth in the final numbers so don’t be surprised if there’s a change there too.
Back after three weeks, Criminal Minds (2.2/6) was also down 4% from its April 9 show to hit a preliminary series low. The drama pulled in 10.25 million viewers with its Survivor lead-in getting an audience of 9.58 million. It means that again, Survivor and Criminal Minds trounced Idol in their common hours in both the 18-49 demo and viewers. Between 8-9 PM, the Fox show pulled in a 1.7 rating with 8.33 million; from 9-10 PM, it had a 1.9 rating and 8.96 million viewers. With a guest appearance from Patricia Arquette as an FBI agent from the bureau’s Cyber-Crime Division to launch a new spinoff, last night’s CSI (1.8/5) saw the venerable crime drama bop up 6% from its last original April 9. Overall, CBS won the night in adults 18-49 with a 2.1/6 rating and in total viewers with 9.924 million.
Back after a couple Wednesday of repeats, NBC welcomed back Revolution (1.4/5) to the lineup for the first time in nearly a month. The time off helped the struggling second season of the show, with an 8% rise from its last original April 2. Otherwise it was a roller coaster for NBC with Law & Order: SVU (1.8/5) down 14% from its last new show April 9 and Chicago P.D. (1.9/6) up 19% from its last original three weeks ago. With the Portland Trail Blazers playing the Houston Rockets in the first round of the NBA playoffs, NBC was again preempted in Portland, OR last night.
After a trip Down Under, Modern Family (2.8/8) was back home last night. Maybe they might want to go on another trip soon: Despite being the night’s highest-rated show, the comedy fell 20% from its April 23 episode. In preliminary ratings that’s a season low for Modern Family. No one actually had much success on ABC on Wednesday. The Middle (1.8/6) slipped 5% from last week, Suburgatory (1.4/4) dropped 18% to a series low, Mixology (1.3/4) was down 13% and Nashville (1.2/4) hit a very bad note with a 20% fall from its last original April 2 – that’s a series low for the country music-themed show.
The CW’s Arrow (0.8/2) was up 14% from last week’s big episode while The 100 (0.6/2) was even with its April 23 episode.
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