Tv Ratings, Fox | featured news

A slightly rising episode of "The Following" and a slightly falling episode of "Bones" helped FOX hold off ABC for Monday wins, with an asterisk, in key measures.

Fox's "American Idol" continues to lose ratings ground on Wednesday, with ABC's "Modern Family" appearing to have edged it out as the night's top show among young adults for the first time. In another first, NBC's rookie drama "Chicago Fire" edged past CBS vet "CSI" to win the 10 o'clock hour in demos.

It's remarkable how strong the Charlie Brown specials continue to perform in the ratings, year after year. "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" is not the most popular entry in the beloved animated franchise (both "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and It's the "Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" deliver bigger numbers). Yet the program still managed to hold its own against CBS' "Survivor" and Fox's "The X-Factor" (in fact, the special edged out Factor in total viewers, see below). Plus,"A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" delivered its biggest audience in four years — 8.1 million viewers and a 2.2 rating in the adult demo, up 22 percent from last year. Pretty spry for a 39-year-old repeat, huh?

The season's second episode of "So You Think You Can Dance" was up from last Thursday's premiere and gave FOX a huge advantage in young viewers and a slim lead overall on Wednesday night.

Thursday was a big day at Fox. In the morning, the network got word from Nielsen that — after Wednesday night’s Top 5 performance show — “American Idol” had regained its throne as the No. 1-rated entertainment series among younger viewers, who are the currency of broadcast TV ad sales. To accomplish that, “Idol” had to edge past NBC’s singing competition, “The Voice.”

Last night featured two season finales and a time-slot premiere. Fox’s Raising Hope, which has already been renewed for next fall, wrapped its second season with a 1.9/5 in adults 18-49, even with last week’s fast national (up a tenth from the final). Its lead-in, New Girl (2.7/7), was down a tenth from last week, while Glee (2.4/7) was down 11% to a series low.

Against a rousing football game on NBC, Fox’s broadcast of the Primetime Emmy Awards attracted an average of only 12.5 million people — the trophy show’s smallest audience since its famously disastrous 2008 broadcast on ABC. Last year’s Emmy show bagged about 1 million more viewers than Sunday’s, according to early reports (final national stats won’t be in until Tuesday morning).

Fox carried over its winning ways and ratings gains from the American Idol finale on Wednesday to the season premiere of So You Think You Can Dance on Thursday. The two-hour opener (3.2/10 in 18-49, 9.1 million viewers) was up 7% in 18-49 and 11% in viewers from last summer's premiere. It was the most watched SYTYCD premiere in 4 years and highest rated in 3 years.

TV News: 'Modern,' 'Minds' solid opposite the megahit -- ''American Idol'' slipped a bit on Wednesday but still towered over everything else in primetime, lifting Fox to victory on a night when ABC's ''Modern Family'' was the top scripted show in demos.

Marisa Guthrie Univision beats rerun-heavy ABC for the third-place finish behind Fox and CBS.read more