Primetime Ratings: Fox Leads Wednesday as 'Idol' Tumbles 16%

Fox won Wednesday night by a large margin, though American Idol fell 16% from last week to
a 5.1 rating in the 18-49 demo, according to Nielsen overnight numbers. Although Idol will likely be increased in the finals, the show has slipped below NBC's entrant into the singing competition ring, with The Voice's fairly consistent 6.0 rating in its Monday slot.

CBS, in a distant second with an overall 2.9 rating/8 share,
had Survivor fall 10% from its
premiere last week to a 2.8, hitting a new series low. Criminal Minds was steady at 3.1, but CSI was up 8% to a 2.8.

Both The Middle and
Suburgatory fell a tenth to
season-lows at 2.3 each, while Modern
Family
was flat at its own season-low 4.7. In place of Revenge, ABC aired a special Oscars "Before They Were Famous"
episode of 20/20 for a 1.4. The
network earned an overall 2.4/6.

NBC, with an overall 1.2/3, hit series lows with Are You There, Chelsea? -- slipping a tenth
to a 1.3 -- and Rock Center With BrianWilliams,
also down a tenth, fell to a 0.6. Earlier, Whitney
was down 12% to a 1.5. Law &
Order
, also hitting a new series low,
dipped 6% to a 1.6.

The CW's One Tree Hill was down a tenth to a 0.7,
but ReModeled bounced back a tenth to
a still-paltry 0.3. The network ended with an overall 0.5/1.