• by Wayne Friedman , June 9, 2010

One of the big new shows for this season -- Fox's "Glee" -- didn't disappoint in its finale.

It scored the best season-ending episode ratings for any new network show, a Nielsen preliminary 4.6 rating/12 share among the 18-49 crowd. Plus, during the 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. hour, it tied ABC's "NBA Finals" in the 18-49 rating race. "Glee"'s finale was up nearly 20% versus its previous week numbers.

The big ABC basketball event didn't mind much; its overall 4.8/13 wound up 14% higher than game three of a year ago. This is in keeping with the earlier games, which also claimed viewership gains versus a year ago.

All this powered ABC to another easy win: a 4.3/12 among 18-49 viewers on the night overall. Fox wasn't that far behind at a 3.9/11; NBC was next at a 2.6/7; CBS reached a 1.6/5; Univision earned a 1.5/4; and CW scored a 0.3/1.

Although there was some stiff competition on the night, other regular summer shows -- and some new ones as well -- hung in there to claim a good return.

Fox's "Hell's Kitchen," running before "Glee" at 8 p.m., grabbed a nice 3.2/10 for the night, up 10% from the week before. Another sturdy summer contender, NBC's "America's Got Talent," rose to a 3.7/10, also edging up from its previous outing.

But NBC's "Losing with Jillian" at 10 p.m., walking into the teeth of another dramatic ending to an NBA Finals game, lost 20% from its week-before debut, getting to a 2.0/6.

ABC was up in other NBA-related programming overall from its Sunday NBA game. "Jimmy Kimmel Game Night" took on 12% more viewers to earn a 2.9/10; and the "NBA Countdown" pre-game show rose 3% to a 3.5/11.