Wednesday Primetime Results:

* From 8-8:30 p.m. ET, "Whitney" (1.4/4 in 18-49, 4.2 million viewers overall) matched its second-highest 18-49 rating so far this season.

* From 8:30-9 p.m. ET, "Guys With Kids" (1.3/4 in 18-49, 4.0 million viewers overall) retained 93 percent of its 18-49 lead-in from "Whitney" and retained 100 percent in adults 18-49 (1.0 rating each).

* At 9 p.m. ET, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (2.1/5 in adults 18-49, 8.3 million viewers overall) finished within a tenth of a point of last week's season-high 18-49 rating (and equaled last week's 2.1 in these preliminary fast-affiliate ratings) to tie for the second-highest "SVU" rating of the season.

* In total viewers, "SVU" captured a season high and its biggest overall audience since January 11, 2012.

* Keep in mind that last season, "Law & Order: SVU" originals added an average of 47 percent to these next-day "live plus same day" ratings in 18-49 when Nielsen reported "live plus seven day" results.

* At 10 p.m. ET, "Chicago Fire" (2.2/6 in adults 18-49, 8.0 million viewers overall) matched its second-highest 18-49 rating ever and delivered its second biggest overall audience to date. Over the past two weeks, "Chicago Fire" has delivered its two biggest audiences ever and its two best ratings to date when airing with regular programming as its lead-in.

* "Chicago Fire" has now topped its premiere 1.9 rating three times, while no other new drama on ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox has topped its premiere rating even once this season.

In Late-Night Metered Markets Wednesday night:

* In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 2.9/8; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.4/6; and ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 2.4/6.

* Versus Tuesday night, "Tonight" was up 21% (2.9/8 vs. 2.4/6), "Late Show" was down 11% (2.4/6 vs. 2.7/7) and "Kimmel" was down 14% (2.4/6 vs. 2.8/8). And note that when nationals came in on Tuesday, "Tonight" improved its position significantly versus both Kimmel and "Late Show" in total viewers, out-delivering them with 3.3 million persons versus 3.1 million for Kimmel and 2.9 million for "Late Show."

* In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 Wednesday results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 0.9/4; "Late Show," 0.7/3; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.9/4.

* Versus Tuesday night in the Local People Meters, "Tonight" was up 13% (0.9/4 vs. 0.8/4), "Late Show" was up 17% (0.7/3 vs. 0.6/3) and Kimmel was down 10% (0.9/4 vs. 1.0/5). And note that on Tuesday, "Tonight" grew from a 0.8 in 18-49 in the local markets to a 0.9 nationally and "Kimmel" declined from a 1.0 to a 0.7 going from these local-market averages to national numbers.

* From 12:35-1:05 a.m. ET Wednesday night, ABC's "Nightline" averaged a 1.5/5 in metered-market households and a 0.5/3 in 18-49 in the Local People Meters.

* From 12:35-1:35 a.m. ET, "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.5/5 in metered-market households) beat CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.1/4). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.6/4 in 18-49) topped "Late Late Show" (0.4/3).

* At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 1.0/4 in metered-market households with an encore and a 0.4/3 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

NOTE: All ratings are "live plus same day" from Nielsen Media Research unless otherwise indicated.