Another Good Night of Reality on Fox, NBC

Reality shows were king last night over repeat scripted fare on the broadcast networks.

Fox’s "So You Think You Can Dance" was in a virtual tie last night with NBC’s "America’s Got Talent" for the highest rated program of the night among adults 18-49 at a 2.8 each, but "Talent" clearly drew the most overall viewers, averaging 10 million compared to "Dance’s" 7.3 million.

"Dance" also won the night among adults 18-34 and teens.

"Talent" was down 22 percent in the 18-49 demo from its Tuesday premiere, while "Dance" was only down 7 percent from its summer premiere last Thursday.

As usual during the summer, repeats of CBS’ two solid procedural crime dramas, "Criminal Minds" at 9 p.m. and "CSI: NY" at 10 p.m., averaged a respectable 8 million and 8.5 million viewers, respectively. Although their 18-49 demo numbers were not as good. "Criminal Minds" averaged a 1.7 to finish third in its 9 p.m. time period to "Dance" and "Talent," while "CSI: NY" finished second in a three-way race with a 1.8. It was edged out at 10 p.m. by a repeat of NBC drama "Law & Order: SVU," which produced a 1.9.

"SVU" averaged more than 2 million less viewers than "CSI:NY."

ABC’s night of repeats did not fare as well, nor did a first-run showing of its summer drama "Happy Town."

"Happy Town," which premiered on May 12, drew only 2.7 million viewers and an 0.8 18-49 rating at 10 p.m., down 27 percent from its premiere.

Back-to-back repeats of ABC sitcom "The Middle" from 8-9 p.m. averaged 4.9 million viewers and a 1.3 18-49 rating, while repeats of "Modern Family" and "Cougar Town," averaged a 1.6 and 1.3, respectively in 18-49.

And a repeat of NBC’s "Losing It With Jillian" at 8 was also barely on the map, averaging a 1.0 in the 18-49 demo.

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