TV Ratings: CBS wins Friday, 'Fringe' holds steady

Fast National ratings for Friday, Jan. 28, 2011

Once again, CBS won Friday -- this time on a soft, rerun-heavy night.

FOX's "Fringe" has held pretty steady in the volatile Friday night slot, with only a slight dip since last week's highly publicized debut. This is surely good news to fans who are hoping to see it survive into Season 4.

A last-minute scheduling change on The CW had reruns of "The Vampire Diaries" and "Nikita" in place of its mid-season premieres for "Smallville" and "Supernatural." The reruns did perform relatively well for the network despite audience displeasure with the hasty change.

Overall, CBS led with 7.6 million viewers and a 4.9 rating/9 share among households. They were followed by NBC (6.3 million, 4.1/7), ABC (4.6 million, 3.1/5), FOX (4.3 million, 2.5/4) and The CW (1.1 million, 0.8/1).

In the 18-49 demographic, FOX performed well, scoring an 1.8 and a win for the night. NBC came in second with 1.6, followed by ABC (1.3), CBS (1.2) and CW (0.5).

Friday hour by hour:

8 p.m.

CBS: "NCIS" rerun (7.6 million viewers, 5.0/9 households)
NBC: "Minute to Win It" rerun (4.3 million, 2.7/5)
FOX: "Kitchen Nightmares" (4.0 million, 2.4/4)
ABC: "Supernanny" rerun (3.5 million, 2.4/4)
The CW: "The Vampire Diaries" rerun (1.53 million, 0.9/2)

18-49 leader: "Kitchen Nightmares" (1.7)

9 p.m.

CBS: "CSI: NY" rerun (8.1 million, 5.3/9)
NBC: "Dateline: NBC" (6.9 million, 4.5/8)
ABC: "Primetime: What Would You Do?" (4.5 million, 2.9/5)
FOX: "Fringe" (4.5 million, 2.6/4)
The CW: "Nikita" rerun (1.0 million, 0.7/1)

18-49 leader: "Fringe" (1.9)

10 p.m.

NBC: "Dateline: NBC" (7.7 million, 4.6/8)
CBS: "Hawaii Five-0" rerun (7.1 million, 4.6/8)
ABC: "20/20" (5.9 million, 3.8/7)

18-49 leader: "Dateline" (1.9)

Ratings information includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change. Source: The Nielsen Company.

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