'American Idol' helps 'Bones' beat 'CSI' in ratings

American Idol had its lowest-rating performance of the season, yet still had enough fire to dominate Thursday night and boost Bones into beating CSI.

Idol drew 21.7 million viewers and a 6.5 rating in the adult demo. (Fox likes to do year-over-year comparisons for Idol, and points out the show is retaining 96 percent of its numbers when you look at the full week from this time last year.)

Bones (10.9 million, 3.4) was up a tick from its last original and bested CSI (13.6 million, 3.1), despite the CBS crime show rising 15 percent. In fact, with NBC, ABC, and The CW in repeats, CBS grew nearly across the board, with Big Bang Theory (12.1 million, 3.8), Rules of Engagement (9.5 million, 2.8), and The Mentalist (14.4 million, 3.0).

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