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[10/15/10 - 08:47 AM]
Thursday's Broadcast Ratings: CBS Holds Off ABC, NBC
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)

nielsen ratings
(fast national numbers for thursday, october 14, 2010)

Here are the highlights of the 16 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night:

CBS (13.53 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.3, #1) maintained top honors on Thursday thanks to week four of "The Big Bang Theory" (12.47 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 4.1, #2), "Bleep My Dad Says" (10.14 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 3.1, #T5), "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (14.26 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 3.1, #T5) and "The Mentalist" (15.02 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.3, #4).

ABC (8.14 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.9, #2) then once again had to settle for second place with a repeat of "Grey's Anatomy" (4.17 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 1.1, #14) followed by new episodes of "Grey's Anatomy" (11.97 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 4.5, #1) and "Private Practice" (8.26 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 3.0, #T7).

Next up was NBC (5.27 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 2.4, #3) with fresh installments of "Community" (4.80 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 2.2, #11), "30 Rock" (6.67 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 3.0, #T7), "The Office" (7.31 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 3.7, #3), "Outsourced" (5.42 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 2.5, #10) and "The Apprentice" (3.72 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 1.3, #13).

Said adults 18-49 numbers for the Peacock mark "Community's" highest since 3/4/10 and "30 Rock's" since 12/10/09.

Meanwhile, FOX (7.38 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.3, #4) offered up new episodes of "Bones" (9.48 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 2.6, #9) and "Fringe" (5.27 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 1.9, #12), both of which return with new episodes in November.

And finally, repeats of "The Vampire Diaries" (2.01 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 0.9, #15) and "Nikita" (1.71 million viewers, #16; adults 18-49: 0.6, #16) on The CW (1.86 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.7, #5) rounded out the evening.

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49): 30 Rock (42.90%), Community (29.40%), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (14.80%), Bleep My Dad Says (10.70%), The Mentalist (10.00%), The Office (8.80%), Private Practice (3.40%), The Big Bang Theory (2.50%), Grey's Anatomy (0.00%), Bones (0.00%), Outsourced (0.00%), The Apprentice (0.00%), Fringe (-5.00%).

In late-night metered market ratings, ABC's "Nightline" (3.3/8) took top honors over NBC's "Leno" (2.7/7) and CBS's "Letterman" (3.0/8). Rounding out the night then were "Kimmel" (1.6/5) on ABC "Ferguson" (1.5/6) on CBS and "Fallon" (1.3/5) and "Daly" (0.8/3) on NBC.


Here are the highlights of the 15 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (10/15/09):

ABC (11.05 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 4.0, #1) was the network to beat on Thursday thanks to new episodes of "FlashForward" (9.12 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 3.1, #7), "Grey's Anatomy" (13.61 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 4.9, #1) and "Private Practice" (10.42 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 3.9, #3).

Snagging the silver then was CBS (13.81 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.5, #2) with its mix of "Survivor: Samoa" (11.93 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 3.5, #5), "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (15.10 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.6, #4) and "The Mentalist" (14.41 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 3.4, #6).

Next up was FOX (7.53 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.4, #T3) with fresh installments of "Bones" (9.10 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 2.6, #9) and "Fringe" (5.96 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 2.2, #10).

Meanwhile, NBC (5.77 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 2.4, #T3) offered up new episodes of "Community" (5.09 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 2.0, #T11), "Parks & Recreation" (4.69 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 2.0, #T11), "The Office" (8.08 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 4.0, #2), "30 Rock" (6.31 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 3.0, #8) and "The Jay Leno Show" (5.21 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 1.8, #T13).

And finally, new episodes of "The Vampire Diaries" (3.86 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 1.8, #T13) and "Supernatural" (2.63 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 1.2, #15) on The CW (3.24 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.5, #5) rounded out the evening.

Source: Nielsen Media Research





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