• by Wayne Friedman , July 9, 2009

A day after the Michael Jackson TV memorial, the battle of the summer's top reality show resumes with NBC's "America's Got Talent" taking top honors.

"Talent" took in a Nielsen preliminary 3.3 rating/10 share among 18-49 viewers. This topped the second hour of Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance?" which earned a 3.0/9.

But Fox's consistency gave the network the Wednesday night win -- with its 8 p.m. hour of "Dance" reaching a solid 2.8/10 among 18-49ers and an even-better 2.9/11 among young 18-34 viewers. Fox averaged a 2.9/9 for the night among key 18-49 viewers and a 3.0/11 for 18-34 audiences -- both tops among all broadcast networks.

ABC's well-performing reality competition show "Wipeout" went toe-to-toe with "Dance" at 8 p.m., earning the same 2.8/10 among 18-49 viewers. But its "I Survived A Japanese Game Show" could only muster a modest effort, getting to a 1.5/5 during the 9 p.m. hour.

Two original episodes in the 10 p.m. hour from the networks resulted in ABC's "Primetime: Crime" winning the time period, possibly getting some draft from the still-vibrant Michael Jackson effect. At a 2.0/6 among 18-49 viewers, the show jumped 42% versus a week ago.

NBC's scripted "The Philanthropist" offered up a simple 1.4/4 rating, coming in at third place after CBS' "CSI: NY" repeat, which took a 1.5/5.

ABC and NBC ended the evening in a tie for second place, at 2.1/7. Univision and CBS were tied for third, at 1.3/4. With a two-hour "America's Next Top Model" repeat, CW earned a 0.4/1 for both its 18-49 and 18-34 viewers.