'Idol,' new dramas lift Fox for week

'American Idol''Touch'"The American Idol ShowInch along with a trio of youthful dramas lifted Fox to some primetime rankings victory a week ago inside a frame that saw most of the top shows on competing systems air repeats. While "Idol" is constantly on the track at well below last year's start, still it finished towards the top of the rankings charts for that week. Moreover the internet, "Alcatraz" organized well in the second outing, "Idol" assisted Kiefer Sutherland drama "Touch" open nicely on Wednesday, and "Bones" spinoff "The Finder" hit a higher on Thursday. It had been additionally a large week for "The Large Bang Theory," because the CBS comedy tallied up its best Thursday amounts up to now and again beat "Idol" mind-to-mind in demos. Also, numerous repeats from the show lifted The best spinner's to the peak place in youthful-adult ratings among cablers. Overall, based on Nielsen, Fox brought in grown ups 18-49 (3. rating/8 share) -- well in front of CBS (2./6), NBC (1.8/5), ABC (1.6/4) and Univision (1.3/3). Internet also folded in grown ups 25-54 (3.4/8 to two.8/7 for CBS) while CBS brought as a whole audiences (9.3 million to eight million for Fox). The Wednesday hour of "The American Idol ShowInch was the week's No. 1 show in 18-49 (6.5/18) and total audiences (19.67 million) -- lower 8% from the opening hour 1 week earlier and off 24% in the comparable hour last year. "Idol" brought right into a special preview of "Touch" that carried out well (3.9/10, 12.01m) prior to its March 19 premiere, and "The Finder" discovered its best scores in the three airings (2.8/7, 8.44m), benefiting from drama repeats around the competish. Prison drama "Alcatraz" (3./7, 9.03m) meshed well with "House" (3.1/8, 8.76m), retaining 94% of their 18-49 premiere rating it joins "Not so long ago" and "Terra Nova" because the season's only rookie dramas to earn a demo score of three or greater within their second excursions. Around the weekend, Fox got a large boost Saturday from UFC action (2.4/8, 4.66m), roughly matching the combined demos around the evening for ABC, CBS and NBC. Fox's Sunday selection looked sluggish, using the third week of "Napoleon Dynamite" (2.1/5, 4.42m) softish between "The Simpsons" (2.4/6, 5.03m) and "Family Guy" (3.1/7, 5.92m). CBS walked on Wednesday with "Criminal Minds" (3.7/9, 13.81m) and "CSI" (3.4/9, 14.26m) the second, within the swan-song seg for original cast member Marg Helgenberger, gained the very best amounts for any regular 10 p.m. drama on any internet and evening this year. "The Large Bang Theory" (5.5/16 in 18-49, 16.13m) toppled Fox's "Idol" mind-to-mind (5.5 versus. 4.9 in 18-49 and 6.9 versus. 6. in 25-54), striking its best scores since moving to Thursday. And lead-out laffer "Take advantage of" held steady in the third week (3.5/9, 11.50m) -- many, especially facing "Idol."NBC was quiet until Sunday, once the NFL's Professional Bowl won the evening (4.3/11 in 18-49, 12.50m), though lower year upon year. Earlier, the net's Wednesday comedy hour of "Whitney" (1.4/4, 4.40m) and "Are You Currently There, Chelsea" (1.4/4, 3.80m) dipped further within their third week together, and "Chuck" ended its run Friday having a season high (1.3/4, 4.31m). ABC was paced by "Not so long ago" (3.5/8, 10.91m), Sunday's No. 1 series in demos. Also, "The Bachelor" hit some season levels (2.7/7, 8.30m), and Friday's selection of "Shark Tank" (1.5/5, 5.44m), "Primetime: How Would You React?Inch (1.7/5, 5.17m) and "20/20" (1.5/4, 5.73m) looked good within their second week together. In cable, "Jersey Shoreline" (3.8/10, 6.53m) centered its Thursday hour and rated sixth for that week in 18-49. "Kourtney and Kim Take NY" wrapped its season Sunday with the best scores ever to have an E! series (2.6/6, 4.48m), leading all television in the slot among women 25-54 (3.5/6). It had been a great week for Bravo's "Real Average women," as Monday's Beverly Hillsides edition (1.6/4 in 18-49, 3.03m) was cable's No. 1 show from the evening in females 25-54 (2.5/6). And Sunday's Atlanta version (2.1/5, 3.95m) tallied up the 2nd biggest aud for just about any episode in "RH" history. Discovery again shined on Friday with "Gold Hurry" (1.7/5, 4.24m) leading into "Bering Ocean Gold" (1.4/4, 3.66m), which saw the net's greatest-ranked series launch up to now no shows on tv that evening came more teenagers. ABC Family's "Pretty Little Liars" (1.4/4, 3.17m) was the week's No. 1 cable drama in 18-49 on Thursday, CNN's Republican debate came 5.36 million audiences, the net's biggest aud with this election cycle and also the SAG Honours on Sunday came 5.13 million audiences on TNT and The best spinner's, up a little from this past year (5.01m). Contact Ron Kissell at ron.kissell@variety.com