‘American Idol’ Up But ‘Modern Family’ Remains Top Wednesday Demo Draw

On the final Wednesday before the start of the May sweep, a night on which none of the Big Four dramas aired an original episode, ABC’s “Modern Family” was once again the top-rated program in demos. CBS’ “Survivor” again won out over Fox’s “American Idol,” though the latter was on the rise as the net drew the night’s highest overall averages.

According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, “American Idol” averaged a 2.1 rating/6 share in adults 18-49 and 8.9 million viewers overall from 8 to 10 p.m., rising 11% (0.2) from last week and tying with the ABC comedy block for first in 18-49 for its time period. Fox won the night in 18-49 even though it led only one half-hour, and prevailed easily in total viewers.

Elsewhere, ABC opened with “The Middle” (1.8/6 in 18-49, 6.8 million viewers overall) and “Suburgatory” (1.6/5 in 18-49, 5.2 million viewers overall), with both down a bit from their most recent originals three weeks ago. They were followed by “Modern Family” (3.4/10 in 18-49, 9.2 million viewers overall), which was up a tick from its prior original and the night’s top show in 18-49 and 25-54 (4.0/10), and “Mixology” (1.5/4 in 18-49, 4.2 million viewers overall), which was up from last week (1.2 in 18-49) when it followed a “Modern Family” repeat, and in line with its score on the night of the prior “Modern Family” original on April 2. The special “Nashville: On the Record,” featuring music from the soap, closed the night (1.0/3 in 18-49, 4.2 million viewers overall).

At CBS, “Survivor” (2.2/7 in 18-49, 9.3 million viewers overall) was down a tick from last week but remained in first for its hour in 18-49, 25-54 and total viewers. It was followed by repeats of “Criminal Minds” (1.2/3 in 18-49, 6.4 million viewers overall) and “CSI” (1.2/4 in 18-49, 7.0 million viewers overall).

NBC aired repeats of “Law & Order: SVU” at 8 (1.0/3 in 18-49, 4.4 million viewers overall) and 9 (1.1/3 in 18-49, 4.4 million viewers overall), followed by an encore “Chicago Fire” (0.9/3 in 18-49, 3.7 million viewers overall).

At CW, “Arrow” held steady (0.7/2 in 18-49, 2.2 million viewers overall) while “The 100″ (0.6/2 in 18-49, 1.9 million viewers overall) edged up.

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 2.1/6; ABC, 1.7/5; CBS, 1.5/5; Univision, 1.2/4; NBC, 1.0/3; CW, 0.6/2; Telemundo, 0.4/1.

In total viewers: Fox, 8.9 million; CBS, 7.6 million; ABC, 5.6 million; NBC, 4.1 million; Univision, 2.9 million; CW, 2.1 million; Telemundo, 1.2 million.

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