• by Wayne Friedman , July 3, 2008

The TV broadcast summer has evolved into a neck-and-neck race among some moderately viewed reality shows, three of which air on Tuesday night.

ABC's obstacle-course reality show "Wipeout" maintained virtually all of its debut ratings of a week before, grabbing a 3.6 rating/12 share among 18-49 viewers--down a bit from its 3.7/12 of a week ago. That meant this week it was just a tick behind summer reality-show leader "Hell's Kitchen," which posted a 3.7/11 for Fox on the night. The show was up one-tenth of a rating point from a week ago.

NBC's "America's Got Talent" was also in the hunt--taking on a nearly strong 3.3/10, running opposite "Kitchen" in the 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. hour. It was two-tenths of a rating point higher than a week ago.

All told, it cooked up an NBC and Fox tie for this past Tuesday night, with exactly the same numbers: a 2.8/9. ABC was just one-tenth of a rating point off the pace, at a 2.7/8.

CBS' repeats of its dramas--"NCIS" at 8 p.m. and "Without a Trace" at 10 p.m.--were not in contention with the other big three networks, coming in at a 1.5/5 overall for the night.

While Fox got the better of NBC at 9 p.m. with "Kitchen," NBC turned the tables on Fox at 8 p.m. NBC's "Celebrity Family Feud" was just ahead with a 1.9/7; Fox's "The Moment of Truth" came in at 1.8/6. ABC's "Wipeout" nearly doubled the ratings delivery of its second-place competitor "Celebrity Family Feud."

ABC's other new unscripted effort this season, "I Survived a Japanese Game Show," posted a steady 2.6/7, although it dropped 17% from its 3.1/9 premiere.

Of the mini-networks, MyNetworkTV squeaked through with a rare victory over the CW. MNTV took a 0.5 rating/1.6 share versus CW's 0.4 rating/1.3 share. Both networks were in rerun mode for their respective Tuesday night lineups.