“Modern Family” Rating Surges, “Idol” Strong, “Human Target” Disappoints

With “American Idol” out of the 9PM hour Wednesday, “Modern Family” bounced right back to its peak ratings level with an impressive performance.

The Golden Globe-nominee and early Emmy favorite for Outstanding Comedy garnered a 4.1 adults 18-49 rating with 9.8 million viewers, before leading into the reliably-solid “Cougar Town” (7.6 million, 3.4). A new “Ugly Betty” closed the night with a poor 1.6 rating and 4.6 million viewers.

Both 9PM and 10PM nonetheless belonged to CBS, which scored a 4.3 rating with 15.3 million viewers for “Criminal Minds” and a 3.7 rating with 13.9 million for “CSI: NY.”

8PM, however, was a different story, with “Idol” posting a dominant 9.8 rating with 26.7 million viewers. It absolutely crushed CBS’ “The New Adventures of old Christine” (6.5 million, 1.9) and “Gary Unmarried” (6.2 million, 1.9), which, themselves, topped NBC’s “Mercy” (5.8 million, 1.4).

Where “Idol” failed, however, was creating a solid Wednesday audience for an original “Human Target.” The show drew a 3.4 rating with 10.4 million viewers, effectively the same number a re-run of its premiere posted Tuesday night (granted, it went head-to-head with an original “Criminal Minds,” a competitor far more threatening than anything it faced Tuesday). “Target”‘s performance was down notably from what “Lie to Me” did in its post-”Idol” debut last year, although “Lie to Me’s” debut in the timeslot was also it series premiere–”Target” had previously aired Sunday and Tuesday.

Elsewhere, NBC’s “The Jay Leno Show” was soft with a 1.2 and 4.6 million viewers.