In the second week of its 12th season, American Idol (5.4/15) last night saw Nicki Minaj storm off after a squabble with fellow judge Mariah Carey as the show took in auditions in Charlotte, NC. Although watched by 16 million viewers and dominating in all demos, the two-hour episode was down 10% from last week’s premiere. It also was down 16% from Season 11’s second-week Wednesday show a year ago. Still, the rating was better than the 29% year-over-year decline Idol’s second-week Wednesday suffered last season compared with Season 10.
A Criminal Minds (1.5/4) repeat started Wednesday night on CBS followed by a new Criminal Minds (3.0/8) at 9 PM, which was up 3% from last week’s winter break return. Taking its 10 PM time slot, CSI (2.7/7) rose 17% from last week for a season high among adults 18-49. The procedural was the second-most-watched show of the night, pulling in an audience of 11.49 million. An NBA game caused preemption in San Antonio for CBS, so the adjustment for final numbers later today could be greater than usual. Fox won the night in total viewers and the 18-49 demo.
It was a mixed bag on ABC. The Middle (2.5/7) was up 9% from last week and The Neighbors (1.9/5) perked up 6%. Modern Family (4.1/11) slipped 5% from its January 16 show, a season low for the comedy. Suburgatory (2.3/6), meanwhile, was flat with last week’s show. Country drama Nashville (1.8/5) hit a bad note last night: Losing the time slot to CSI, the show fell 18% from last week’s 2.2/6 rating.
NBC was all encores with Whitney (0.8/2), Guys With Kids (0.8/2), Law & Order: SVU (0/7/2) and Chicago Fire (0.8/2). The CW had new episodes of Arrow (1.1./3) and Supernatural (0.9/2 ).
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