TOUCH Gives Fox its Top Drama Debut of the Season

American Idol continued to drop in ratings this week, losing just over 13 percent of its audience among adults 18-49. Last night's one-hour auditions episode from Aspen, CO brought in a 6.4 rating in the demo. The lead in made way to a very strong preview of Kiefer Sutherland's new drama series 'Touch'. The series does not officially premiere until March 19th, but Fox gave viewers a sneak peek last night following Idol. 'Touch' gave Fox its top drama debut of the season with a 3.9 among adults 18-49. Terra Nova and Alcatraz drew a 3.2 and 3.3, respectively. 

CBS aired Marg Helgenberger's final episode of the drama CSI which drew a 3.3 rating in adults 18-49 and 14 million viewers, both season highs. Its lead-in, Criminal Minds, gave CBS' strongest showing of the night with a 3.6 in 18-49-ers, placing the network second for the night in the demo (2.9) and viewers (11.8 million).

The ABC Wednesday comedy block and Revenge were all repeats, giving the net a 1.5 in adults 18-49 and 4.4 million viewers.

New episodes of Whitney and Are You There, Chelsea? had disappointing nights, both earning a 1.4 rating among adults 18-49. They were followed by back-to-back repeats of Law & Order: SVU, giving the network a 1.3 in adults 18-49 and 3.98 million viewers.

Here are the highlights of the 15 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night based on Nielsen ratings:

FOX (15.69 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 5.2, #1) cruised to victory on Wednesday with a new "American Idol" (19.51 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 6.4, #1) followed by the series preview of "Touch" (11.87 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 3.9, #2). Said numbers marked this season's second highest rated drama opening ("Once Upon a Time") not to mention was FOX's highest-rated drama opening in three years ("Lie to Me") and the highest retention for a drama opening after "Idol" ever.

CBS (11.88 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.9, #2) then claimed the silver with a repeat of "Criminal Minds" (7.91 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.7, #T6) followed by new episodes of "Criminal Minds" (13.70 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 3.6, #3) and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (14.03 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 3.3, #4).

Next up was ABC (4.37 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.5, #3) with its all-repeat lineup of "The Middle" (5.26 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.5, #8), "Suburgatory" (4.21 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T9), "Modern Family" (6.49 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 2.5, #5), "Happy Endings" (4.02 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.7, #T6) and "Revenge" (3.12 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.9, #14).

Meanwhile, NBC (3.99 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.3, #4) offered up new episodes of "Whitney" (4.50 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T9) and "Are You There, Chelsea?" (3.90 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T9) as well as repeats of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (3.75 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 1.2, #13) and another "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (4.01 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T9).

And finally, a new "One Tree Hill" (1.47 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 0.7, #15) led into an encore of "Remodeled" (0.66 million viewers, #16; adults 18-49: 0.3, #16) on The CW (1.06 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.5, #5). In the netlet's target demo (women 18-34), "Hill" delivered a 1.5 rating while "Remodeled" posted a 0.4 rating.

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