Fox took the two top-rated slots thanks to "American Idol" and "Bones," while a Steve Carell-less "The Office" continued its ratings downturn and ABC's "Wipeout" experienced a dramatic jump, according to preliminary numbers.
The "Idol" results show at 8 p.m. took a 6.2/19 in the adults 18-49 demographic and 21.5 million total viewers, grabbing the top slot of the evening. Its strong performance appears to have given a slight boost to "Bones" at 9, which had a 3 percent uptick in the demo with a 3.3/9 and 10.9 million total viewers, making it the second-highest rated program of the evening.
At NBC, the "Community" season finale at 8 was down 7 percent, taking a 1.4/5 in the demo and 3.2 million total viewers. An "Office" repeat at 8:30 had a 1.2/4 in the demo and 2.8 million total viewers. (Perhaps Magnitude can brighten the mood.) A new episode of "The Office" dropped off 9 percent compared to last week — when the show experienced a 17 percent ratings slide compared to Carell's swan song two weeks ago — with a 3.2/9 in the demo and 6.2 million total viewers. The episode also tied for a season low. "Parks and Recreation" at 9:30 was down 4 percent compared to last week with a 2.4/6 in the demo and 4.5 million total viewers, while a second airing at 10 took a 2.0/5 in the demo and 3.5 million total viewers. "Outsourced" closed the evening at 10 with its season finale, which performed flat in the demo compared to last week with a 1.5/4 and 2.9 million total viewers.
ABC's primetime started out brightly, with "Wipeout" at 8 jumping 21 percent in the demo compared to last week, taking a 1.7/5 and 5.4 million total viewers. "Grey's Anatomy" the following hour dipped 11 percent compared to last week and hit a series low with a 3.1/8 in the demo and 9.3 million total viewers. "Private Practice" closed out the network's evening at 10, performing flat versus last week with a 2.3/6 in the demo and 7.3 million total viewers.
CBS' evening began with "The Big Bang Theory" at 8, which was flat with last week — a season low — with a 3.2/11 and 10.4 million total viewers. "Rules of Engagement" the following hour, meanwhile, received a 5 percent bump in the demo, taking a 2.3/7 in the demo and 8 million total viewers. The season finale of "CSI" at 9 received a 13 percent spike in the demo compared to last week, with a 2.6/ 7 and 11.4 million total viewers, while "The Mentalist" the following hour also took a 2.6/7 in the demo, with 13.7 million total viewers.
