As usual, American Idol blew away the competition on Wednesday night, with 22.5 million viewers tuning in to see Simon, Paula, Kara, Randy, and Randy’s sparkly guitar shirt announce the three contestants chosen from round 3 of the op 36. The judges also revealed their wild-card selections to fill out season 8’s Top 12. (Read Michael Slezak’s recap of Wednesday night.) NBC’s Knight Rider wrapped up its first season with an audience slightly larger than what it has had in recent weeks. Meanwhile, Fox’s Lie to Me continued to dip in viewership, with a million fewer people willing to play head games last night than there were for the psychodrama’s last new episode, on Feb. 19. The return of America’s Next Top Model brought some much-needed fierceness into The CW’s rerun-laden wasteland: Cycle 13’s premiere earned 10 percent more viewers than cycle 12’s back in September, and it enjoyed a 27 percent viewership bump from its first hour to its second.
| Time | Show | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 p.m. | American Idol (Fox) Knight Rider (NBC) Old Christine (CBS) Lost (ABC) America’s Next Top Model (The CW) |
22.5 5.8 5.5 (repeat) 4.8 (repeat) 3.3 |
| 8:30 | Gary Unmarried (CBS) | 5.4 (repeat) |
| 9:00 | Lost (ABC) Criminal Minds (CBS) Lie to Me (Fox) Criminal Minds (CBS) America’s Next Top Model (The CW) |
10.6 10.3 (repeat) 10.2 4.6 (repeat) 4.5 (cont.) |
| 10:00 | CSI: NY (CBS) Law & Order (NBC) Life On Mars (ABC) |
10.9 (repeat) 5.8 (repeat) 5.7 |
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