Fox’s ‘MasterChef,’ NBC Relief Concert Top Wednesday

Fox captured Wednesday in key demos behind its two-hour “MasterChef,” while NBC scored with its “Healing in the Heartland” concert special. It was slow going, meanwhile, for the premieres of CBS’ “American Baking Competition” and ABC’s “Lookout.”

According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, “MasterChef” led in demos with original episodes at both 8 (2.0 rating/7 share in adults 18-49, 5.1 million viewers overall) and 9 (2.4/7 in 18-49, 5.8 million viewers overall), matching its premiere score of last week. It grew with each half-hour, peaking in the 9:30 p.m. half-hour with a 2.5/7 in 18-49 and 1.9/7 in persons 12-34.

At NBC, “Dateline” opened the night with season highs for a Wednesday edition (1.6/5 in 18-49, 7.1 million viewers overall), making the show’s fourth consecutive week of gains. The newsmag, which won its hour in total viewers, was followed by “Healing in the Heartland: Relief Benefit Concert” (1.9/6 in 18-49, 8.6 million viewers overall), which matched the network’s best 18-49 score in the 9 o’clock hour since Jan. 9 while drawing the timeslot’s largest overall audience since early November. It was also Wednesday’s most-watched program overall as NBC took the night in this measure.

The live special, organized and headlined by Blake Shelton, featured Usher, Darius Rucker, Rascal Flatts, Reba and others. It also was scheduled to run on cable networks Style, G4, Bravo, E! and CMT either live or on a delayed basis.

Closing the night for the Peacock was an encore of “Chicago Fire” (0.9/3 in 18-49, 3.8 million viewers overall).

CBS premiered “American Baking Competition” with a soft 1.0/3 in 18-49 and 5 million viewers overall, but it did pick up by a couple of tenths in the demo in its second half-hour. The net then performed similarly with repeats of “Criminal Minds” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 5.2 million viewers overall) and “CSI” (1.1/3 in 18-49, 7.0 million viewers overall).

At ABC, a repeat of “The Middle” (1.0/4 in 18-49, 4.3 million viewers overall) was followed by an original “Family Tools” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 3.6 million viewers overall), an encore “Modern Family” (1.4/4 in 18-49, 4.6 million viewers overall) and a new “How to Live With Your Parents” (1.3/4 in 18-49, 4.0 million viewers overall). From 10 to 11 p.m., the premiere of “Lookout” did a 1.1/3 in 18-49 and 4.1 million viewers overall, a slight improvement over the premiere of “Final Witness” in the hour last June.

Univision ranked third in adults 18-49, led by “Amores Verdaderos” (1.6/5 in 18-49, 3.9 million viewers overall).

CW aired repeats of “Arrow” (0.4/1 in 18-49, 1.5 million viewers overall) and “Supernatural” (0.4/1 in 18-49, 1.1 million viewers overall).

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 2.2/7; NBC, 1.5/4; Univision, 1.4/4; ABC, 1.1/3; CBS, 1.0/3; CW, 0.4/1.

In total viewers: NBC, 6.5 million; CBS, 5.7 million; Fox, 5.4 million; ABC, 4.1 million; Univision, 3.5 million; CW, 1.3 million.

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