Fox's "American Idol" held steady with last week's performance in the ratings, driving the network to an easy overall win Wednesday night, while ABC's "The Neighbors" and "Suburgatory" fell double digits to tie series lows, according to preliminary numbers.
Airing "Idol" throughout its primetime slate, Fox took first place in the advertiser-sought 18-49 demographic with a 5.4 rating/14 share — identical to last Wednesday's episode — and in total viewers with 15.6 million, down slightly from the 16 million that "Idol" drew last Wednesday.
CBS drew a distant second place in ratings and total viewers with a 1.8/5 and 8 million. Following the special "Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials" at 8 p.m., which was up 5 percent from last year's presentation with a 2.1/6 and had 9.9 million total viewers — the network aired repeats.
NBC came in third in ratings and total viewers with a 1.6/4 and 5.6 million, with its roster taking hits of varying degrees across the board. "Whitney" at 8 returned with a 7 percent slide from its last original three weeks ago, posting a 1.3/4 and taking 3.6 million total viewers, while "Guys With Kids" at 8:30 dropped 15 percent for a 1.1/3 and had 2.9 million total viewers. "Law & Order SVU" at 9 fell 19 percent for a 1.7/4 and had 6.4 million total viewers, while "Chicago Fire" slipped 9 percent to a 2.0/6 and took 7.2 million total viewers.
ABC came in fourth place in ratings and total viewers with a 1.5/4 and 4.6 million. The network aired repeats, aside from "The Neighbors" at 8:30, which fell 20 percent to tie a series low of 1.6/4 and drew 5.3 million total viewers, and "Suburgatory" at 9:30, which slid 18 percent to tie its own series low of 1.8/5 and had 4.9 million total viewers.
