nielsen ratings
(fast national numbers for wednesday, september 7, 2011)

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

NBC (7.90 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.9, #T1) was the network to beat on Wednesday with its mix of "Minute to Win It" (5.62 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T9), "America's Got Talent" (11.81 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.8, #T1) and a repeat of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (6.28 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.6, #6).

Sharing top honors was CBS (6.46 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.9, #T1) with its combination of "Big Brother 13" (7.70 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.8, #T1), "Criminal Minds" (6.29 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.7, #5) and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (5.38 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.1, #13).

Next up was ABC (4.48 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.5, #3) with encores of "The Middle" (4.28 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T11), another "The Middle" (4.77 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.5, #7), "Modern Family" (4.88 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.9, #3), another "Modern Family" (4.44 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.8, #4) and the penultimate week of "Primetime Nightline" (4.25 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 1.4, #8).

Meanwhile, "Buried Treasure" (4.19 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T9) posted a series high for FOX (3.94 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.2, #4) followed by an encore of last week's "Buried Treasure" (3.69 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T11).

And finally, repeats of "America's Next Top Model" (1.34 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T14) and another "America's Next Top Model" (1.26 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T14) on The CW (1.30 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.5, #5) closed out the evening.

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49): Buried Treasure (30.0%), America's Got Talent (12.0%), Primetime Nightline (-6.7%), Minute to Win It (-7.1%), Big Brother 13 (-12.5%).

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," 2.8/7; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.3/6; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 3.0/7; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.4/4.

In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 0.8/4; "Late Show," 0.6/3; "Nightline," 1.1/5; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.6/3.

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" (1.2/4). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.5/3 in 18-49) topped "Late Late Show" (0.3/2).

At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.8/3 in metered-market households with an encore and a 0.3/2 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

Here are the highlights of the 11 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (9/8/10):

FOX (5.72 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.4, #1) was the adults 18-49 champ on Wednesday thanks to new episodes of "Masterchef" (5.46 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 2.3, #4) and a second "Masterchef" (5.98 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 2.6, #3).

The silver then went to NBC (8.37 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.1, #2) with new episodes of "Minute to Win It" (6.54 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.8, #6) and "America's Got Talent" (11.94 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.7, #T1) followed by a repeat of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (6.62 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.9, #5).

Next up was CBS (6.85 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.8, #3) with a new "Big Brother 12" (7.71 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.7, #T1) and repeats of "Criminal Minds" (6.77 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.6, #8) and "CSI: NY" (6.06 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T12).

Meanwhile, The CW (2.93 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.3, #4) claimed fourth place with the season premiere of "America's Next Top Model" (2.88 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T9) and the debut of "Hellcats" (2.99 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T9).

In the comparable night a year ago (9/16/09), the netlet offered up week two of "America's Next Top Model" (3.00 million viewers; adults 18-49: 1.5) and the premiere of "The Beautiful Life" (1.46 million viewers; adults 18-49: 0.7).

And finally, repeats of "The Middle" (4.69 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T12), another "The Middle" (4.64 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T9), "Modern Family" (4.68 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.7, #7), "Cougar Town" (3.08 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 1.1, #14) and "Castle" (3.71 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.0, #15) on ABC (4.09 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.2, #5) rounded out the evening.

In late-night metered market ratings, NBC's "Leno" (2.8/7) and ABC's "Nightline" (2.8/7) took top honors over CBS's "Letterman" (2.4/6). Rounding out the night then were "Kimmel" (1.3/4) on ABC "Ferguson" (1.2/5) on CBS and "Fallon" (1.3/5) and "Daly" (0.8/4) on NBC.

Source: Nielsen Media Research