TV ratings: ‘American Idol’ flat with top-8; ‘SVU’ jumps up
Nineteen-eighties musical nostalgia on Fox couldn’t beat CBS.
It was ‘80s night on “American Idol” as the remaining eight contestants performed classics of the bygone decade and the aging show’s ratings changed little from last week, pulling in 8.8 million viewers total.
“Idol” registered a 2.0 in the key 18-to 49-year-old demographic, down 5% from last week, though the series’ figures tend to increase slightly in the final counts.
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CBS was the highest-rated network in the early statistics, with a 2.1 in 18-49 (in which a point equals about 1.3 million viewers) and average viewership of 9.5 million. The 28-season-old “Survivor” rose slightly week-to-week to a 2.4, while “Criminal Minds” came down to earth a bit with a 2.3, down 12%.
Last Wednesday’s “Criminal Minds” beat “American Idol” for the first time in the common hour in 18-49, and now it looks like NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU” is catching up too. The Dick Wolf procedural rose 18% week-to-week for a rating of 2.0 in the key demo, matching the veteran singing contest for the first time ever (if ratings hold).
“Chicago P.D.” scored a 1.6 in 18-49, flat with last week and pulling in its biggest total audience ever (6.5 million).
ABC was all reruns Wednesday night, except for the struggling bar-set comedy “Mixology,” which fell 31% to a 1.1, its lowest yet.
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