ABC premiered Family Tools, another new comedy, on Wednesday and didn’t earn spectacular numbers, making it pretty clear why the network waited so long to air it. It didn’t really matter, though, since Fox’s American Idol easily won the night.
Fox’s two-hour Idol episode averaged 11.1 million viewers and a 2.8 18-49 rating. It was down 13 percent from last week, notes The Wrap and was behind ABC’s Modern Family in the key demo. Still, its overall rating beat the averages for the other networks.
CBS came in second place with 9.45 million viewers and a 2.2 18-49 rating. According to HitFix, Survivor kicked off the night with just over 9 million viewers and a 2.3 18-49 rating. Criminal Minds followed with nearly 10 million viewers and a 2.3 18-49 rating, while CSI had 9.31 million viewers and a 1.8 key demo rating.
ABC averaged 6.57 million viewers and a 2.1 18-49 rating. The Middle kicked things off with 7.27 million viewers and a 2.0 18-49 rating, while the Family Tools premiere had just 5.77 million viewers and a 1.5 18-49 rating. THR reports that this was the lowest start for an ABC sitcom ever. Modern Family was down to 9.5 million viewers and a 3.5 18-49 rating, but it was still the highest rated show of the night. How To Live With Your Parents jumped to 6.25 million viewers and a 2.2 18-49 rating, while Nashville finished with 5.3 million and a 1.7 18-49 rating.
NBC had 5.88 million viewers and a 1.6 18-49 rating. The network has decided to fill empty slots with Voice episodes, so a clip show had 5.57 million viewers and a 1.6 18-49 rating. Law & Order: SVU dipped again to 5.72 million viewers and a 1.5 18-49 rating, while Chicago Fire had 6.35 million viewers and a 1.7 key demo rating.
The CW’s Arrow had 2.8 million viewers and a 0.9 18-49 rating, while Supernatural had 2.1 million viewers and a 0.9, as well. Both shows were down from last week.
image: ABC