• by Wayne Friedman , May 22, 2014

On the next-to-last day of the broadcast TV season, some big TV finales earned generally lower results versus last season’s endings. Fox and its “American Idol” won Wednesday night, May 21.

Fox’s “American Idol” at 8 p.m. took in a Nielsen preliminary 2.6 rating/9 share among 18-49 viewers, down almost a full rating point from the 3.6 number a year ago. CBS’ “Survivor,” running in the same time period, was just a bit behind at a 2.5/8 -- down from its 2.7 rating finale last spring.

NBC’s series finale of “Revolution” took in a 1.1/4 -- also at 8 p.m. -- its lowest series numbers. ABC’s “The Middle,” running from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., did well to remain respectable. The bigger reality shows saw a 2.0/7 rating, up from a 1.9 the week before.

ABC’s “Modern Family” at 9 p.m. posted the best individual show results for the night -- a 3.6/11 among 18-49 viewers, up almost a half a rating point from its week-ago results -- but down versus last year’s finale.

In the 10 p.m. time slot, CBS’ “Survivor Reunion” scored a 2.0/6, while NBC’s “Chicago PD” earned a 1.6/5 and ABC’s “Motive” came in at 0.9/3.

Fox led all networks among 18-49 viewers with a 2.6/9. CBS scored a 2.4/8, followed by ABC with a 1.8/6, NBC at a 1.4/5, Univision with 1.1/3 and the CW at 0.4/1 .