RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Steps It Up, ‘Idol’ Rises, ‘CSI’ Finale Down, ‘Supernatural’ Finale & ‘Nashville’ Up

It was Nigel Lythgoe night on Fox on Wednesday with back-to-back competition shows produced by the former choreographer. Almost to the finish line, it was the season’s last performance night for American Idol (2.9/10). Finalists Candice Glover and Kree Harrison sang three songs each on the one-hour live show from LA’s Nokia Theatre. The most-watched show of the night with 11.57 million viewers, Idol was even with the final numbers of last week’s two-hour show but up 12% in the 8-9 PM hour. As is common with live shows, those results could be adjusted in the final numbers later today. Tonight’s finale will see a few surprises aside from declaring a winner, including performances of new tunes from judges Mariah Carey — with Randy Jackson on bass — and Keith Urban.

The second night of the two-part premiere of Season 10 of So You Think You Can Dance (2.3/6) headed to Detroit for the first time for the next round of auditions, with Season 4’s tWitch joining the judges panel, SYTYCD benefited from its Idol lead-in with a 21% jump over Tuesday’s premiere. It also saw viewership leap 39% to 7.11 million. On a night that saw the NBA Playoffs on TNT, Fox was tops in both viewers and adults 18-49 among the broadcast networks.

There wasn’t dancing but there was music on the Season 13 finale of CSI (2.0/6). Black Sabbath appeared on the long-running procedural to debut their tune “End Of The Beginning”. CSI saw a 9% dip from its May 8 show and a 17% fall from its Season 12 finale on May 9, 2012. Earlier in the night, CBS had two 2 Broke Girls encores at 8 PM (1.0/3) and 8:30 PM (1.1./4) followed by an original Criminal Minds (2.5/7) that was even with last week’s show. The CW had the season finales of Arrow (0.9/3) and Supernatural (0.9/3). The former freshman was even with last week’s show and tied for a series low, while the latter was down 10% from its May 8 episode but up 29% from its Season 8 ender on May 18, 2012.

On ABC, The Middle (1.9/7) was up 6% over last week while the recently launched and already cancelled Family Tools (1.2/4) was even with its May 8 airing. The highest-rated show of the night, Modern Family (3.5/10), bopped up 6% from last week. Freshman How To Live With Your Parents (For The Rest Of Your Life) (2.0/5) was even with its May 8 episode, while Nashville (1.9/5) rose 13%.

In the slot temporarily occupied by The Voice for the last two weeks, Dateline NBC (1.3/4) was even with its last original three weeks ago. Law & Order: SVU (1.5/4) was down 21% from its May 8 episode while Chicago Fire (1.9/5) rose 6%.