Taylor Swift Can't Lose

Swift-led CMAs score biggest TV audience in four years; Glee manages to defy gravity anyway

At first glance, it sure looked like Glee's Rachel and Kurt picked the wrong night to do a diva-off against Taylor Swift.

Just days after Swift led Saturday Night Live to its best ratings of the season, the singing sensation helped the Country Music Association Awards to its biggest audience in four years.

The ABC telecast, featuring big wins by Swift, Swift, Swift and Swift, averaged nearly 17 million viewers, easily winning Wednesday's prime-time race.

So, was it curtains for Glee, after all?

Nope.

Fox's high-school musical defied gravity, to borrow a Wicked reference, building on its previous, pre-World Series episode. At 9 p.m., Glee (7.3 million estimated viewers) tied for a solid second, with CBS' Criminal Minds, among the demographically desirable.

Still, it was Laurence Fishburne who gave Swift the most push back.

The CSI star's CSI: NY stopover boosted the spinoff by nearly 2 million viewers (from 12 million viewers last week to an estimated 13.9 million last night), and helped the 10 p.m. drama to the night's best numbers.

After Swift, of course.