• by Wayne Friedman , April 7, 2011

Coming out after "American Idol" at 9:30 p.m., Fox's new comedy "Breaking In" did its job -- posting a big Nielsen preliminary 3.5 rating/9 share among 18-49 viewers. For its own part, "American Idol" reached a 7.1/ 20.

Now the somewhat bad news: "Idol" was down from a 7.5/20 the week before. Reality competition shows typically trend higher as they build toward their finale. Fox was still way ahead of other networks for the night, with a 6.3/17. This was versus its 7.5 of a week ago, when it ran two hours of "Idol." This week the performance show ran a half-hour shorter.

The other networks posted virtually identical numbers to its results of a week before -- and still a long way behind Fox. CBS had another solid second-place finish with a 2.9/8 -- no change versus its last Wednesday outing. ABC remained the same at a 1.5/4. NBC lost one-tenth of a rating point, to a 1.4/4. Univision also dropped one-tenth to a 1.6/4. The CW had the same 0.6/2 versus the previous week.

The second-biggest-rated show of the night was CBS' "Criminal Minds" at 9 p.m., which rose to a 3.6/9, up from a 3.5 a week ago. "Survivor: Redemption Island" grew a bit to a 3.1/9 from a 3.0 the week before. "Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior" sank to a 2.1/5 from a 2.3.

NBC's best came from its 10 p.m. "Law & Order: SVU" at a 2.3/5, down from a 2.5. The network's 8 p.m. game show, "Minute to Win It," was at 1.0/3, losing from a 1.3 the week before.

ABC's top effort came from a repeat of "Modern Family" at 2.0/5. Its new "Mr. Sunshine" improved two-tenths of a rating point to a 1.6/5. The finale of its 10 p.m. "Off The Map" took in a 1.3/3, the same numbers as the week before.

CW's "America's Next Top Model" and "Shedding for the Wedding" struggled among younger audiences, scoring a combined 0.6/2 among 18-34 viewers.