• by Wayne Friedman , December 8, 2011

Overall, holiday period lows on Wednesday gave CBS some room for a rare 18-49 win on the night. CBS' "Survivor: South Pacific" was up 6% to a 3.3/9 at 8 p.m. "Criminal Minds" at 9 p.m. was the best-rated CBS show of the night, at a 3.4/9 -- down nearly 10% from its most recent original, near its season low.

"CSI" also slipped versus its last original outing, to a 2.5/7.

ABC's super show "Modern Family" joined other Wednesday night regulars, earning good but lower ratings versus recent original episodes.

Nielsen preliminary results show CBS, ABC and Fox in a virtually tie on the night with CBS, at a 3.1 rating/8 share among 18-49 viewers, with ABC and Fox each getting a 3.0/8.

After some special Thanksgiving eve programming, ABC brought back its heavy guns for the night -- specifically "Modern Family," which was easily the best-rated show on Wednesday night, at a 5.0/13, although down 11% versus its last original outing.

Other ABC shows did well, but were generally down: "Suburgatory" scored a 2.8/8; "The Middle" earned a 2.8/8; "Happy Endings" took a 2.9/8; and "Revenge" grabbed a 2.4/7.

Fox also went south: "The X Factor" was down over 10% to a 3.3/9. And the second episode of "I Hate My Teenage Daughter" fell 25% to a 2.1/5.

NBC came in a distant fourth, to a 1.6/4, tying Univision. NBC's best show was "Up All Night," which climbed 20% to a 1.8/5, followed by a 1.4/4 for an "Up All Night" rerun. "Harry's Law"  landed at a 1.2/3; "Law & Order: SVU" came in at a 1.9/5.

CW got some good news from the season finale of "America's Next Top Model," up 25% versus the week before to a 1.0 rating/3 share among 18-49 viewers. Overall, CW landed at a 0.8/2 for the night among 18-49 viewers.