Nellie Andreeva

The down trend this week continued with another night of steep declines. The entire ABC lineup was down from last week to tie or post new season lows (except Thanksgiving eve): The Middle (2.5/7, off 4%), Suburgatory (2.4/6, down 8%), Modern Family (4.7/12, down 15%), Happy Endings (2.5/6, down 14%) and Revenge (2.4/6), which was off 4% for one of its most pivotal episodes to date.

CBS’ Survivor (3.0/8) started its new season on the low side, down two tenths from last year’s February premiere, though it may trim the gap to one tenth in the finals. Criminal Minds (3.0/7) was down 9% from last week for a season low, while CSI (2.7/7) perked up, increasing 8% from last week to win the 10 PM hour. Is new star Elisabeth Shue behind the gains?

Fox’s two-hour American Idol (6.0/16) matched its fast national result last Wednesday for an hourlong epsiode and is expected to also be even with last week in the finals, at a 6.1 rating.

NBC barely registered, with Law & Order: SVU as the highest-rated program of the night at a paltry 1.7/4, down 15% from last week for a series low. It was hurt by its (non) lead-in, Rock Center With Brian Williams (0.8/2), which was down 27% from last week and is projected to be topped in the ratings by Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly for the second time. Believe it or not, this is not a series low for the low-rated NBC newsmagazine; it hit a 0.7 rating in the old Monday 10 PM slot last month. NBC’s Wednesday comedies Whitney and Are Your There, Chelsea, which had been delivering matching results since they launched together last month, separated from each other, with Whitney (1.6/5) going up a tenth from last week, and Chelsea (1.4/4) sliding by that much. The CW’s One Tree Hill (0.7/2) held steady, while dismally rated reality series Remodeled (0.2/1) dropped a tenth for a new series low.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.