Midseason preview: What's new, what's back

Fast National ratings for Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011

"American Idol" continues to hold onto its audience as we're all glued to the audition process with the new judges. Down only very slightly from its premiere, "Idol" is still easily winning the night for FOX, proving itself to be quite the formidable ratings champion. Wednesday's show, which was only one hour compared to the last two Wednesdays' two-hour audition shows, attracted nearly 25 million viewers.

"Human Target," which did benefit from its "Idol" lead-in, couldn't hold onto the audience. Meanwhile, "Off the Map" was up slightly from last week, and "Live to Dance" seems to have stabilized.

FOX drew an average of 17.1 million viewers with a 9.3 rating/14 share in households. It was followed by CBS (8.5 million, 5.4/9), NBC (8.0 million, 4.7/7), and ABC (6.6 million, 4.1/7). The CW's reruns trailed with 1.1 million viewers and a 0.7/1 share.

In the 18-49 demo, FOX continued its Wednesday reign with a 5.7, easily beating NBC's 2.6, ABC's 2.2, CBS's 1.6, and The CW's 0.4.

Wednesday hour by hour:

8 p.m.

FOX: "American Idol" (24.9 million, 13.3/21)
ABC: "The Middle" reruns (6.7 million viewers, 4.2/7)
NBC: "Minute to Win It" (5.8 million, 3.4/5)
CBS: "Live to Dance" (4.8 million, 3.2/5)
The CW: "Smallville" rerun (1.1 million, 0.8/1)

18-49 leader: "American Idol" (8.9)

9 p.m.

CBS: "Criminal Minds" (9.7 million, 6.1/10)
NBC: "Minute to Win It" (9.6 million, 5.1/8)
FOX: "Human Target" (9.3 million, 5.2/8)
ABC: "Modern Family" rerun (9.2 million, 5.4/8) / "Cougar Town" (6.6 million, 3.9/6)
The CW: "Supernatural" rerun (1.0, 0.7/1)

18-49 leader: "Modern Family"/"Cougar Town" (3.1)

10 p.m.

CBS: "Blue Bloods" (11.2 million, 7.0/12)
NBC: "Law & Order: SVU" (8.7 million, 5.6/9)
ABC: "Off the Map" (5.3 million, 3.4/6)

18-49 leader: "Law & Order: SVU" (2.9)

Ratings information includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change, especially in the case of live telecasts. Source: The Nielsen Company.

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