Ratings Chart Attack!

Fox’s “American Idol” did wonders for “Hell’s Kitchen” on Thursday, while viewers welcomed ABC’s “In the Motherhood” with a solid reception.

A results episode of “American Idol” scored a 7.4 rating/21 share among adults 18-49 and 22.4 million viewers, according to preliminary Nielsen figures. After being delayed for a night to accommodate President Barack Obama’s Tuesday press conference, Thursday’s “Idol” was down 15% from its results show performance last Wednesday, but up 4% from its most recent Thursday telecast earlier this month. At 9 p.m., “Hell’s Kitchen” (4.7/11, 10.9 million) was up 42% from its performance last week, thanks to the hefty “Idol” lead-in. Last night’s episode currently ranks as the highest-rated since the season premiere, but it may come in as second highest after final numbers are released.

ABC’s premiere of “In the Motherhood” (2.1/6, 6.7 million) was solid considering the strong competition from college basketball and “Idol.” Last night’s episode matched the season-to-date time-period average set by “Ugly Betty” in the half-hour and edged out established comedy “My Name Is Earl” on NBC. “Motherhood” also matched the network’s premiere of “Better Off Ted” last Wednesday. At 8:30 p.m., “Samantha Who?” (2.1/6, 6.5 million) returned in a new time period, remaining flat from its lead-in but showing slight decreases from previous season averages on Mondays and Tuesdays. A new “Grey’s Anatomy” (5.5/13, 15.8 million) was up 10% from last week to rank as the top scripted show of the night, while “Private Practice” (3.8/10, 10.5 million) was up 9%.

CBS’ primetime coverage of NCAA March Madness college basketball scored a 3.5/9 (10.1 million) from 8-11 p.m. Due to the nature of live programming, ratings may change after final numbers are released.

NBC’s “My Name Is Earl” (2.0/6, 5.9 million) fell victim to the “Idol”-NCAA-“Motherhood” competition, dipping 20% from its performance last week. Following an encore of “The Office,” a new “Office” (4.3/11, 8.4 million) was up 8% from last week and a new “30 Rock” (3.4/8, 7.2 million) was up 6%. The penultimate episode of “ER” (3.5/9, 10.2 million) was up 9% from its performance last week and on par with its previous season average.

On The CW, new episodes of “Smallville” (1.5/4, 3.7 million) and “Supernatural” (1.2/3, 3.2 million) both were down one-tenth of a rating point from their performances last week.

For the night: Fox led the way (6.1/16, 16.6 million), followed by ABC (3.8/10, 11 million), CBS (3.5/9, 10.1 million), NBC (3.1/8, 7.8 million) and The CW (1.4/4, 3.5 million).