Nellie Andreeva

There are not that many cases when a 1.2 demo rating wold be a cause for celebration. This is one of them — last night Fox’s bubble sci-fi drama Fringe  posted a 1.2/4 in adults 18-49, shooting up 33% from the series low it posted in its return from hiatus last week. Fringe also matched its lead-in, Kitchen Nightmares, which also recovered from its all-time low of a 1.0 rating last week.

CBS’ lineup returned to normal after two weeks of NCAA basketball, bringing with it CSI: NY, back after a midseason break to a 1.6/5 in 18-49, 9.4 million viewers, down a tenth in the demo from its last original almost 2 months ago. Undercover Boss (1.8/7, 8.1 million) was down 10% from its most recent episode 3 weeks ago when both Undercover Boss and Blue Bloods underwent significant downward ratings adjustment in the finals. Blue Bloods (1.6/5, 10.6 million) was even with that final demo rating and once again ranked as the most watched program of the night.

Highest-rated among adults 18-49 was ABC’s 20/20 (2.1/7, 6.9 million), which had its best demo delivery in more than 2 years (since 1/8/10) with a program devoted to the Mega Millions lotto frenzy. Primetime: What Would You Do? (1.5/5) also was competitive, but with Shark Tank a repeat (1.2/5), ABC (1.6/5, 5.6 million) was edged by CBS (1.7/6, 9.4 million) for the top 18-49 spot for the night. CBS also won in total viewers.

NBC’s Grimm (1.2/4) aired its first original since the show was renewed for a second season. The fairytale/horror procedural was sluggish in its return, down 20% from its last fresh episode. Grimm was not helped by its lead-in, Who Do You Think You Are? (0.8/3, down 20% from last week.) Dateline (1.2/4) closed out the night for NBC. The CW’s Nikita (0.4/2) dropped a tenth from last week to match its series low, Supernatural (0.7/2) rose a tenth.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.