'Idol' wins night as judges save Giraud

This is the middle of the broadcast season, correct?

On Wednesday night, NBC aired nothing but repeats, the CW aired half repeats and CBS ran mostly repeats. Moving sweeps resulted in more repeats in April than usual, combined with some recent time period occupants being removed for not pulling their weight.

Fox won the night, slipping Bones (10.8 million viewers, 3.0 preliminary adults 18-49 rating) into the 8 p.m. Lie to Me spot for the evening. The ever-reliable detective series checked the time period's waterline and came up 20% higher than last week's Lie. The Idol results show (23.5 million, 8.0) matched last week's rating, which means it will likely show some week-to-week growth when the nationals come in.

On Idol, the judges finally used their one-time veto to rescue piano man Matt Giraud. It was an effective emotional moment, but let's see how the majority of voters react next week to being overruled.

With CBS comedies in encores, ABC's Scrubs (5.3 million, 2.0) and Better Off Ted (4.7 million, 1.9) both climbed a tenth or two. Lost (9 million, 3.9) was up a tenth from last week's low. But 10 p.m. freshman drama The Unusuals (6.2 million,1.9) fell a couple notches while up against CBS' time-period winning CSI: NY (12 million, 2.8), though CSI was than usual thanks to not having an original lead in.

CBS was third with repeats and CSI. NBC was fourth with three hours of Law & Order repeats (you knew this day would come). On the CW, America's Next Top Model (3.7 million 1.8) placed third in the 8 p.m. hour followed by a repeat.