• by Wayne Friedman , July 24, 2008

Singing and dancing high school students don't cut it; it's back to the big red balls and all that mud. ABC was back on top with its 8 p.m. physical competition show "Wipeout," with a Tuesday night-leading Nielsen Media Research preliminary 3.6 rating/12 share. All this after a couple of nights of sub-1.0 ratings for ABC's "High School Musical: Get in the Picture."

ABC was the only network that posted 2.0-plus ratings for all its shows on the night. The "Wipeout" companion competition show that also humbles contestants, "I Survived A Japanese Game Show," had a 2.2/7 (although down a bit from the week before). "Primetime: Family Secrets" won the 10 p.m. time period, also with a 2.2/7. ABC won the night with an average 2.7/8.

NBC came in at second place on the night with a 2.3/7, thanks to its still-sturdy reality performer "America's Got Talent," which put down a 3.3 rating/10 share at 9 p.m., the second-best-rated show of the evening. But shows that bookended "Talent" were under the 2.0 rating mark--a 1.8/6 for "Celebrity Family Feud" at 8 p.m. and a 1.9/6 for a rerun of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" at 10 p.m.

Farther down the list was Fox with a 1.8/5, with its top show coming from a repeat of "House," which earned a 1.9/6.

CBS and Univision tied for fourth at 1.7/5. The highlights here were a 2.1/6 for CBS' "Big Brother" at 9 p.m., with Univision earning a 1.8/6 for "Al Diablo con los Guapos" at 8 p.m. and "Fuego en la Sangre," at 1.8/5 at 9 p.m.

CW was sixth at 0.5/1, with a 0.4/1 for a repeat of "Beauty and the Geek," and a 0.5/1 for a repeat of "Reaper."