Decent debut for NBC's 'Awake'

Reaping helpful benefits from repeats round the competition Thursday, Fox's ''American Idol'' had its best showing round the evening this season to steer the web to have an easy victory in key demos. And shutting factor out, NBC drama ''Awake'' got away and off to a relatively nice beginning, building on its comedy lead-in. According to preliminary national estimations from Nielsen, ''American Idol'' averaged a 5.3 rating/15 participate grownups 18-49 and 18.3 million audiences overall from 8 to 10 p.m., up nearly 20% versus. last week's hourlong episode and the most effective of three obligations now. Mind-to-mind, it outshine runner-up CBS (in repeats) by 9 shares in 18-49 and 25-54. At NBC, the net's comedy block couldn't gain any ground despite facing repeats of ''The Large Bang Theory'' as well as the 9 o'clock dramas on ABC and CBS. The fighting ''30 Rock'' got the evening away and off to a pokey start (1.4/4 in 18-49, 3.8 million audiences overall), and ''Parks and Recreation'' handled a little build at 8:30 (1.7/5 in 18-49, 3.8 million audiences overall). Also on componen with the other day, otherwise slightly below, were ''The Office'' (2.5/7 in 18-49, 5. million audiences overall) and ''Up All Night'' (1.6/4 in 18-49, 3.5 million audiences overall).At 10, alternative-reality drama ''Awake'' averaged single.9/5 in 18-49 and 6.2 million audiences overall to top its repeat broadcast competition it built on its ''Up All Night'' lead-in, however fell in the 2.1 demo rating within the first half-hour with a 1.8 within the second. The Jason Isaacs-fronted ''Awake'' bested the premiere last fall of ''Prime Suspect'' (1.8), which ongoing to average single.4 same-evening demo rating due to its 11 original Thursday episodes. NBC hasn't done better with regular programming Thursday at 10 since February of a year ago (''30 Rock'' and ''Outsourced''). Elsewhere, during repeat, CBS comedy ''The Large Bang Theory'' was the night's No. 1 scripted show (3.2/10 in 18-49, 11.millions of audiences overall). At 8:30, the summer season finale of ''Rob'' hung inside virtually despite striking a small (2.6/7 in 18-49, 9. million audiences overall), lower just three tenths from the other day even though its ''Big Bang'' lead-in fell off 2 whole ratings points. Closing the evening for CBS were repeat crime dramas ''Person of Interest'' (1.8/5 in 18-49, 9.5 million audiences overall) and ''The Mentalist'' (1.7/5 in 18-49, 8.9 million audiences overall).ABC stood a quiet evening with repeats of ''Wipeout'' (1.3/4 in 18-49, 4.5 million audiences overall) and ''Grey's Anatomy'' (1.1/3 in 18-49, 4.5 million audiences overall) a unique encore in the publish-Oscars episode of ''Jimmy Kimmel Live'' (1./3 in 18-49, 3. million audiences overall).CW broadcast repeats of ''The Vampire Diaries'' (.4/one out of 18-49, 1.millions of audiences overall) and ''Supernatural'' (.3/one out of 18-49, 1. million audiences overall).Preliminary 18-49 earnings for your evening: Fox, 5.3/15 CBS, 2.1/6 NBC, 1.9/5 Univision, 1.4/4 ABC, 1.1/3 CW, .4/1.In general audiences: Fox, 18.3 million CBS, 9.5 million NBC, 4.7 million ABC, 3.7 million Univision, 3.4 million CW, 1. million. Contact Ron Kissell at ron.kissell@variety.com