nielsen ratings
(fast national numbers for wednesday, july 27, 2011)

Here are the highlights of the 14 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night:

FOX (5.95 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.0, #1) claimed top honors on Wednesday with another two-hour "So You Think You Can Dance" (5.95 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 2.0, #3).

NBC (6.76 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.8, #2) then was the most-watched network with new episodes of "Minute to Win It" (4.74 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.1, #9), "America's Got Talent" (10.40 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.7, #1) and "Love in the Wild" (5.15 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.6, #4).

Next up was CBS (6.05 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.6, #3) with its mix of "Big Brother 13" (6.64 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.3, #2), "Criminal Minds" (5.22 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T6) and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (6.31 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T6).

Meanwhile, ABC (3.70 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.1, #4) offered up repeats of "The Middle" (3.97 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.9, #T11), "Modern Family" (4.05 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T6), another "Modern Family" (4.39 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.4, #5), "Happy Endings" (2.84 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.9, #T11) and a new "Primetime Nightline" (3.48 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 1.0, #10).

And finally, repeats of "America's Next Top Model" (1.03 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.4, #13) and another "America's Next Top Model" (0.84 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.3, #14) on The CW (0.94 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.4, #5) rounded out the night.

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49): Primetime Nightline (11.1%), Love in the Wild (6.7%), So You Think You Can Dance (5.3%), America's Got Talent (3.8%), Big Brother 13 (-8.0%), Minute to Win It (-8.3% vs. 7/13/11).

In late-night metered market ratings (via NBC's press release):

In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 2.6/6; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.4/6; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 2.8/6; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.1/3.

In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 0.9/4; "Late Show," 0.6/3; "Nightline," 0.9/4; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.4/2.

At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.4/5 in metered-market households) beat CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.3/4). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.7/4 in 18-49) topped "Late Late Show" (0.4/2).

At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.8/3 in metered-market households with an encore and a 0.4/3 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

Here are the highlights of the 15 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (7/28/10):

NBC (6.65 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.0, #T1) and FOX (5.34 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.0, #T1) split adults 18-49 honors on Wednesday as the former offered up new episodes of "Minute to Win It" (5.94 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.8, #5), "America's Got Talent" (9.52 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.6, #1) and a repeat of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (4.78 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.5, #7).

FOX then offered up fresh installments of "So You Think You Can Dance" (5.33 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 2.0, #T3) and another "So You Think You Can Dance" (5.35 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 2.0, #T3).

Next up was CBS (6.39 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.7, #3) with a new "Big Brother 12" (6.63 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.3, #2) followed by repeats of "Criminal Minds" (6.30 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.7, #6) and "CSI: NY" (6.26 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.3, #9).

Meanwhile, ABC (3.77 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.0, #4) offered up repeats of "The Middle" (4.18 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.0, #12), a second "The Middle" (4.04 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 1.1, #T10), "Modern Family" (4.07 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.4, #8), "Cougar Town" (3.27 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 1.1, #T10) and "Castle" (3.54 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.8, #13).

And finally, a repeat of "America's Next Top Model" (1.08 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.5, #14) lead into the premiere of "Plain Jane" (0.98 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 0.4, #15) on The CW (1.04 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.4, #5).

Source: Nielsen Media Research