American Idol back on top in Dallas-Fort Worth ratings

Idol and Fox4 News were winners with the prime demographics.

Fox's American Idol again edged CBS' The Big Bang Theory as Thursday's most-watched program while taking firmer command among advertiser-favored 18-to-49-year-olds.

The two-hour Idol ruled from 7 to 9 p.m. with 433,542 total D-FW viewers, while Big Bang checked in with 406,446 at 7 p.m. before the network's following Rob fell to 223,545 viewers.

CBS' Person of Interest ranked a solid second at 8 p.m. with 311,609 viewers; CBS' The Mentalist (277,738 viewers) then mopped up with a 9 p.m. win.

Among 18-to-49-year-olds, though, Idol and Fox4's 9 p.m. newscast were first-place finishers from 7 to 10 p.m. The faltering Rob ranked as CBS' least-watched attraction in both ratings measurements. From 7:30 to 8 p.m., The second half of CW's The Vampire Diaries tied NBC's Parks & Recreation for the silver in this key demographic while ABC's Wipeout crash-landed in fifth place.

In Thursday's four-way local newscast competitions, CBS11 continued to run strong at 10 p.m. with wins in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming. Solid lead-in advantages from The Mentalist didn't hurt, but in both cases CBS11 held on to most of the audience it inherited.

Fox4 ran the table at 6 a.m., with WFAA8 continuing its push for second place in the February "sweeps" with a pair of runner-up finishes over NBC5. Nine weekdays remain in the 20-day competition. And the race for the silver medal among 25-to-54-year-olds remains up for grabs.

Fox4 and WFAA8 tied for first at 6 p.m. in total viewers, but Fox4 had a commanding win among 25-to-54-year-olds.

NBC5 fared well at 5 p.m., nipping WFAA8 with 25-to-54-year-olds while the two stations tied for the top spot in total viewers.