The biggest reality shows on network television went head to head to head last night.
NBC: The Peacock threw a special results episode of THE VOICE against American Idol and Survivor last night, and the result was no clear winner. The Voice tied with Survivor in the 8-8:30PM half-hour, then pulled ahead at 8:30 (Idol had the highest rating of the overall programs because it was the only one that extended into the 9PM hour). Notably, the entrance of The Voice into the hour barely affected the competition, with Survivor and Idol only moving 0.1 each. The one thing NBC’s gambit clearly did was raise its own rating for the night, as The Voice, unsurprisingly, towered over NBC’s other 8PM Wednesday shows with a 2.7, and then SVU rose 0.4 from last week to 1.9. CHICAGO FIRE was helped less, up 0.1 to 1.8, and well behind CBS in the 10PM hour.
FOX: Even though AMERICAN IDOL declined just 0.1 from last week, that still set a new series low of 2.8.
CBS: Really, one could argue that SURVIVOR, despite having the lowest overall rating of the 3 combatants at 8PM, gave the most impressive performance, rising 0.1 from last week to 2.5 and almost tying the 8PM hour of Idol. In addition, CRIMINAL MINDS rose 0.1 to 2.5, and CSI had an impressive 0.3 bump to 2.2, easily winning its hour.
ABC: The network wasn’t able to capitalize on having the only scripted programming at 8PM, as THE MIDDLE fell 0.2 to a season low 1.8, and FAMILY TOOLS had a rotten second outing (and deserved to), down 0.4 to a 1.1 that probably guarantees it won’t be back next season. MODERN FAMILY tumbled half a ratings point to a season low 3.1, and in light of that, HOW TO LIVE WITH YOUR PARENTS looked remarkably sturdy, slipping just 0.1 to 2.0 (still its lowest post-nonrerun-Family number to date). NASHVILLE was slightly down to 1.6, despite what should have been a big storyline development the previous week.
CW: Both ARROW and SUPERNATURAL were even at 0.9.
Tonight the season finale express begins to gather some steam, as GLEE, PERSON OF INTEREST and COMMUNITY all depart. The first two of those will air against a special 1-hour penultimate THE OFFICE.
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