"American Idol" dominated Wednesday night and averaged a 9.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 25.2 million viewers. But more importantly, the two-hour "Idol" (8-10 p.m.) was only down 5% in the demo compared to last Wednesday's premiere.

Last year, the third telecast of "American Idol" dropped 14% in the demo. Of course, the tenth season opener last Wednesday was also down 18% in the demo (9.7 rating) compared to the 2010 opener.

ABC and CBS tied for a distant second on the night averaging a 2.1 demo rating each. ABC had back-to-back reruns of "The Middle" (which averaged a 2.0 in the demo with 6.8 million viewers from 8-9 p.m.) followed by reruns of "Modern Family" (2.6, 7.3 million) and "Cougar Town" (2.1, 5.0 million). About The Author: Steven Rogers
Steven Rogers is a senior entertainment reporter for Reality TV World and been covering the reality TV genre for two decades.