ABC’s new Elisha Cuthbert sitcom “Happy Endings” experienced a steep decline from last week’s series premiere, while “American Idol” continued to dominate the competition on Wednesday night, according to preliminary numbers.
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Thanks in huge part to “Idol,” Fox was the overall winner in the adults 18-49 demographic.
Last night’s “Idol” performance episode — complete with judge Steven Tyler’s f-bomb — from 8 p.m. to 9:30 took the evening's top numbers, grabbing a 6.8 rating/19 share in the key demo and 21.7 million total viewers — a drop of only around 4 percent from last week's performance show.
Tyler let the F-word fly while delivering effusive praise for contestant Casey Abrams.
Fox's new Christian Slater comedy “Breaking In” at 9:30 nabbed the top ratings in its time slot thanks in large part to the lead-in assist from “Idol,” with a 2.5/7 in the demo and an average of 7.5 million total viewers.
At ABC, the evening started off with “The Middle” at 8 p.m., which performed flat from last week with a 1.8/6 in the demo and 6.7 million total viewers.
“Better With You” at 8:30 had a 7 percent bump in the demo compared to last week, with a 1.6/4 and 5.2 million total viewers.
“Modern Family” at 9 p.m. was down 5 percent from the previous week with a 3.7/10 in the demo and 9.8 million total viewers, but still captured the second-best ratings behind “Idol.”
“Cougar Town” at 9:30 averaged a 2.4/6 in the demo and 6.2 million total viewers, and “Happy Endings” at 10 took a 22 percent slide in the demo from last week’s premiere, with a 1.8/5 and 4.6 million total viewers. Another episode of the series at 10:30 had a 1.6/4 in the demo and 3.8 million total viewers.
CBS’ primetime kicked off with “Survivor: Redemption Island” at 8, which had a 3.0/9 in the demo and 10.4 million total viewers. A repeat of “Criminal Minds” followed the following hour, drawing a 1.9/5 in the demo and 8.7 million total viewers, while a “Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior” took a 1.7/4 in the demo and 7.1 million total viewers.