TV Ratings: ‘NCIS’ tops Tuesday ‘American Idol,’ but FOX splits night

Fast National ratings for Tuesday, March 5, 2013.

“NCIS” dominated “American Idol” overall in their first head-to-head meeting of the season and also eked out a victory in the key demo, but “Idol” still cruised past “NCIS: Los Angeles” to help FOX win Tuesday among young viewers. CBS dominated the night overall, of course.

Among other notables, “Celebrity Wife Swap” plunged in its second airing (“Idol” may have had something to do with that), “Smash” keeps finding ways to sink lower, “Golden Boy” dropped some in its second week and NBC’s 9 p.m. comedies kept struggling, particularly “The New Normal.”

For the night, FOX averaged a 3.4 rating among adults 18-49, beating CBS’ 2.6 rating in the key demographic. There was a big drop to ABC’s 1.3 rating and to the 0.9 key demo rating for NBC. The CW averaged a 0.4 key demo rating.

Overall, though, CBS averaged an estimated 15.19 million viewers to go with a 9.6 rating/15 share for Tuesday night. FOX’s 6.9/10 and 11.49 million viewers finished far back in second, but still well ahead of the 4.58 million viewers and 3.1/5 for ABC. NBC’s 2.0/3 and 2.99 million viewers and The CW’s 0.7/1 and 1.1 million viewers trailed.

[Univision averaged 4.335 million viewers and a 1.8 rating among adults 18-49 for the night.]

8 p.m. – “NCIS” led the 8 p.m. hour with 20.345 million viewers and a 3.3 rating among adults 18-49, basically flat with last week for CBS. “American Idol” drew 10.89 million viewers and a 3.2 key demo rating for the first hour of a special Tuesday performance episode. ABC’s “Celebrity Wife Swap” averaged 4.07 million viewers and a 1.5 key demo rating, down by 38 percent from last week. NBC’s “Betty White’s Off Their Rockers” repeat averaged 3.625 million viewers and a 1.1 key demo rating, delivering the network’s best numbers of the night. On The CW, “Hart of Dixie” matched last week’s solid numbers with 1.44 million viewers and a 0.6 key demo rating.

9 p.m. – “NCIS: Los Angeles” still won the 9 p.m. hour overall for CBS with 15.95 million viewers, but dropped to second with a 2.8 rating among adults 18-49. FOX’s “American Idol” rose to nearly 12.1 million viewers and won the hour with a 3.5 key demo rating. ABC’s “The Taste” dropped from last week, but still finished third with 3.17 million viewers and a 1.2 key demo rating. NBC was fourth with new episodes of “Go On” (3.04 million viewers and a 1.1 key demo) and “The New Normal” (2.44 million and a 0.9 key demo). The CW’s repeat of “Beauty and the Beast” averaged 753,000 viewers and a 0.3 key demo rating.

10 p.m. – “Golden Boy” won the 10 p.m. hour with 9.27 million viewers and a 1.6 rating among adults 18-49 for CBS and will now prepare to head off to Fridays. ABC’s “Body of Proof” was up slightly with 6.5 million viewers and flat with a 1.2 key demo rating. And NBC’s “Smash” hit another series low with 2.61 million viewers and only a 0.7 key demo rating.