Ratings Chart Attack!

Fox’s “Bones” performed strongly before “American Idol” Wednesday night, while ABC’s “The Unusuals” and CBS’ “CSI: NY” took some hits.

At 8 p.m., a special episode of “Bones” scored a 3.0 rating/9 share among adults 18-49 and 10.8 million viewers, according to preliminary Nielsen figures. The series won the hour and improved on “Lie to Me’s” performance in the time period by 20% over last week’s episode. “Bones” also drew its biggest audience since early February. “American Idol” (8.0/20, 23.5 million) remained flat with last week’s results episode and claimed the top spot for the night.

ABC’s “The Unusuals” (1.9/5, 6.2 million) dipped 10% from its debut last week. In the 8 p.m. hour, “Scrubs” (2.0/7, 5.3 million) and “Better Off Ted” (1.9/6, 4.7 million) posted slight gains from last week and average performances. “Lost” (3.9/10, 9 million) also grew a bit from last week, but it was off 10% from its season-to-date average.

At 10 p.m., CBS’ “CSI: NY” (2.8/8, 12 million) scored its lowest original episode ever, down 15% from last week. Last night’s episode, the only original in the network’s lineup, lost a strong 9 p.m. lead-in from “Criminal Minds.” “The New Adventures of Old Christine” and “Gary Unmarried” aired in the 8 p.m. hour.

The CW’s “America’s Next Top Model” (1.8/5, 3.8 million) posted a 6% gain from last week. A “90210” encore aired at 9 p.m., giving the network an average 1.9/6 rating among women 18-34.

NBC aired repeat episodes of “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: SVU” and “Law & Order.”

For the night: Fox led the way (5.5/15, 17.1 million), followed by ABC (2.6/7, 6.7 million), CBS (2.4/7, 9.4 million), NBC (1.5/4, 5.7 million) and The CW (1.1/3, 2.4 million).

Final Nationals update (2:45 p.m.): Fox’s “American Idol” was up to an 8.2/21 (24.1 million), while “Bones” remained flat but increased in total viewers to 11 million. ABC’s “Scrubs” remained flat, but dipped in viewers to 5.1 million, as did “Better Off Ted,” down to 4.6 million viewers. “Lost” rose to a 4.0/10 (9.2 million), while “The Unusuals” dipped to a 1.8/5 (6 million). CBS’ “CSI: NY” increased to a 2.9/8 (12.1 million), and The CW’s “America’s Next Top Model” was up 1 share point (1.8/6, 3.8 million). Overall, Fox rose (5.6/16), NBC dropped (1.4/4) and the rest were flat.