Maybe 'So You Think You Can Dance' executive producer Nigel Lythgoe will blame 'Twilight' fever for last night's 12 percent drop in the coveted 18-49 demo. 'Eclipse' set a new record for a Wednesday movie premiere, which may have pulled some viewers away from 'SYTYCD,' but that doesn't explain the 11 percent drop the week before.

Welcome to the Ratings Race. Each day, we'll take a look at the previous night's overnight ratings report from Nielsen and see if we can make sense of some of the numbers. There's a lot to pay attention to, and the numbers can get confusing. 'America's Got Talent' scored a 3.4 in the demo, with an 11 share. That's even with last week's ratings, despite a 5 percent increase in total viewers. Why is that? What does it mean?

Because advertisers care about the 18-49 demographic. That means those additional 692,000 viewers this week are great and all, but they're the wrong types of people. Don't get me wrong, NBC is happy to have them, they just don't care as much if they're watching or not. Nobody said the system was perfect.

NBC dominated the night in total viewers (2.3/8, 8.683 million) with nearly 3 million more than any other network, along with three of the top four shows. Their two-hour block of 'America's Got Talent' continues to improve week-to-week in both viewers and the coveted 18-49 demo. While 'SYTYCD' continued its gentle slide at Fox, it still managed to come in second to the new 'Talent' in the demo for the night. In total viewers, it was sixth.

8PM ET

A repeat of 'America's Got Talent' (1.8/7, 7.261 million) kicked off the night for NBC, and while it won the hour in total viewers, Fox can still claim victory at 8 with the first hour of a new 'So You Think You Can Dance' (2.2/8, 5.793 million) taking the 18-49 demo handily. Howie Mandel must be resonating positively with the viewers, as even this repeat of 'AGT' is up 17 percent from last year's repeat in the same hour.

On CBS it was all repeats, with 'Rules of Engagement' (1.2/4, 3.640 million) continuing to improve slightly on its lead-in 'How I Met Your Mother' (1.1/4, 3.599 million), though both were down from last week, 9 percent and 4 percent respectively. In the demo, these numbers are right in line with last year's repeats of 'The New Adventures of Old Christine' and 'Gary Unmarried' in the hour, but both of this year's fill-ins are down an average of 20 percent in total viewers versus last year. For CBS, that means they're continuing to attract the "right" viewers, while shedding more of that older demographic that's been saddling their image for years.

ABC slipped in the hour as well from last week with their one-two punch of 'The Middle' repeats (0.9/4, 4.072 million & 1.0/4, 3.896 million), which were down considerably from last year when new installments of 'Wipeout' held this time slot and commanded nearly 8 million viewers. But, as ABC is building their comedy brand on Wednesday nights, they're probably pleased to see 'The Middle' holding the hour steady through the summer. The CW offered up the first of two repeats of 'America's Next Top Model' (0.4/2, 1.099 million), slipping 3 percent from last week to continue a downward trend on the summer.

9PM ET

A new installment of 'America's Got Talent' (3.4/11, 12.775 million) took the crown for the night in both viewers and the demo. The series continued its weekly growth with another 5 percent in additional total viewers from last week. That's a healthy 12 percent bump from last year in total viewers, and an even better 15 percent improvement in the demo.

Fox came in second with the second hour of 'So You Think You Can Dance' (2.7/8, 6.504 million), which improved on the first hour but still couldn't match last year's two-hour show. Year-to-year, 'SYTYCD' was down a whopping 24 percent in both total viewers and the demo. Maybe that 2009 fall season of 'SYTYCD' hurt the brand, or the format changes this season with the addition of "All-Stars" to the cast isn't resonating with viewers. It wasn't that long ago that 'SYTYCD' consistently took the top spot in the demo, while 'Talent' settled for total viewers, but now Fox's summer staple has handed both crowns to NBC.

CBS maintained consistency with a repeat of 'Criminal Minds' (1.3/4, 6.048 million) week-to-week, though it was down 28 percent in the demo and 23 percent in total viewers from last year's installment. ABC's new comedy repeats 'Modern Family' (1.3/4, 3.924 million) and 'Cougar Town' (0.9/3, 2.981 million) performed only slightly lower than last summer's 'I Survived a Japanese Game Show,' while the CW's second 'America's Next Top Model' (0.5/1, .908 million) slipped below a million viewers for the first time this summer.

10PM ET

With FOX and the CW off to bed early, it was the battle of the procedurals. NBC took the hour with a repeat of 'Law & Order: SVU' (1.8/6, 6.014 million), jumping 12 percent in the demo from last week to do it. Impressively, the rerun beat last year's new episode of 'The Philanthropist' by 5 percent in total viewers and 17 percent in the demo.

CBS's repeat of 'CSI: NY' (1.2/4, 5.855 million) tumbled 14 percent in the demo and 16 percent in total viewers from last week. Somehow, I don't think blaming 'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse' is going to explain this one. Instead, it looks like 'SVU' is benefiting from the continuing growth of NBC's 'America's Got Talent' at 9, at the expense of CBS's 10 PM programming.

ABC was up 12 percent in total viewers from last week's disappointing 'Jimmy Kimmel Live: Twilight Special' with a repeat of 'Castle' (0.7/2, 3,353 million), but it was a disastrous 42 percent plunge in the 18-49 demo week-to-week. At least ABC can be pleased that their 'Castle' repeat did manage to beat the last new episode of 'Happy Town' two weeks ago by 35 percent in total viewers, and 14 percent in the demo, so shelving that is looking like a bright decision.

These ratings are terrible news for for proponents of new scripted programming in the summer season, though. Why bother to make something new when NBC and ABC can score more viewers with repeats of their regular season procedurals?


OVERNIGHT RANKINGS

Adults 18-49