RATINGS RECAP: 9/29/11

ABC
8:00 Charlie's Angels
Viewers: 7.1 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5
9:00 Grey's Anatomy
Viewers: 10.2 million, 18-49 demo: 3.6
10:00 Private Practice
Viewers: 7.8 million, 18-49 demo: 2.8

CBS 
8:00 The Big Bang Theory
Viewers: 14.7 million, 18-49 demo: 4.9
8:30 How to Be a Gentleman
Viewers: 9.0 million, 18-49 demo: 2.7
9:00 Person of Interest
Viewers: 12.5 million, 18-49 demo: 2.7
10:00 The Mentalist
Viewers: 12.9 million, 18-49 demo: 2.6

NBC
8:00 Community
Viewers: 4.0 million, 18-49 demo: 1.8
8:30 Parks and Recreation
Viewers: 4.3 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1
9:00 The Office
Viewers: 6.7 million, 18-49 demo: 3.5
9:30 Whitney
Viewers: 5.4 million, 18-49 demo: 2.5
10:00 Prime Suspect
Viewers: 5.7 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5

FOX
8:00 The X-Factor
Viewers: 12.2 million, 18-49 demo: 3.9

The former top night of TV is turning into concerning issues on all networks. CBS started very strong though where The Big Bang Theory was up four tenths in viewers and even in the demo from last week's season premiere. This is a great performance, particularly for an 8pm show. But the news was not good at 8:30pm where the series premiere of How to Be a Gentleman lost a huge chunk of the lead-in. By CBS standards, this is almost dead on arrival and if it slips a lot next week, we might see the Saturday-bound Rules of Engagement getting a Thursday reprieve. At 9pm, Person of Interest was down eight tenths in viewers and four tenths in the demo from its series premiere. The lead-in wasn't half as strong but a 2.7 demo is troubling for one of CBS's prime slots. At 10pm, The Mentalist was down seven tenths in viewers and two tenths in the demo from last week's season premiere.

ABC had some troubling news at 8pm where Charlie's Angels plummeted 1.7 million viewers and a big six tenths in the demo from its premiere episode last week. While the total viewer drop is acceptable, the demo drop is huge. It looks like ABC might be back to the drawing board for this timeslot soon. At 9pm, Grey's Anatomy was down just two tenths in viewers but half a demo point. This show continues to lose steam but a 3.6 demo is still ok. Will the former demo powerhouse drop below a 3 this time? At 10pm, the season premiere of Private Practice was not too far below last year's season premiere despite the Grey's lead-in being far lower so that is a positive. Maybe it's not as lead-in dependent as it seems.

NBC's comedies continued to struggle to be on the map. At 8pm, Community was up a tenth in viewers and the demo and Parks and Recreation was up two tenths in viewers and even in the demo. While they are two of only a few shows to rise this week, they are so low overall it barely matters. At 9pm, The Office was down nine tenths in viewers and four tenths in the demo. It's still the best demo performer on the night easily but not nearly as powerful as it once was. At 9:30pm, week two of Whitney was down a rough 1.4 million viewers and eight tenths in the demo from last week. This is one of the biggest week-to-week drops of any new show which doesn't bode well. At 10pm, Prime Suspect was down a decent four tenths in viewers but three tenths in the demo from its series premiere to a very low 1.5 demo. NBC's drama situation across the network is a mess. The second Thursday of FOX's The X-Factor was down just three tenths in viewers from last week but four tenths in the demo. It's already below a 4 in the demo but the total viewer count seems to be stable.