RATINGS RECAP: 10/20/11

ABC
8:00 Charlie's Angels
Viewers: 5.6 million, 18-49 demo: 1.2
9:00 Grey's Anatomy
Viewers: 9.5 million, 18-49 demo: 3.6
10:00 Private Practice
Viewers: 6.4 million, 18-49 demo: 2.3

CBS
8:00 The Big Bang Theory
Viewers: 14.9 million, 18-49 demo: 5.1
8:30 Rules of Engagement
Viewers: 11.5 million, 18-49 demo: 3.6
9:00 Person of Interest
Viewers: 12.4 million, 18-49 demo: 2.7
10:00 The Mentalist
Viewers: 12.5 million, 18-49 demo: 2.5

NBC
8:00 Community (Repeat)
Viewers: 2.4 million, 18-49 demo: 0.9
8:30 Parks and Recreation (Repeat)
Viewers: 2.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.1
9:00 The Office (Repeat)
Viewers: 3.3 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5
9:30 Whitney (Repeat)
Viewers: 2.6 million, 18-49 demo: 1.1
10:00 Prime Suspect (Repeat)
Viewers: 2.8 million, 18-49 demo: 0.8

FOX
8:00 MLB World Series Game 2
Viewers: 14.3 million, 18-49 demo: 4.0

CBS had a great start to Thursday night. At 8pm, The Big Bang Theory was up a big 1.3 million viewers and half a demo point, posting its best Thursday numbers ever. Maybe it benefited from no X-Factor, and to a lesser extent, no new Community. Still this is a mammoth performance for 8pm and CBS has to be thrilled that this show is still showing signs of growth. At 8:30pm, the season premiere of Rules of Engagement posted great numbers - much better than last spring (of course its lead-in was better). Looks like CBS made the right call in the quick ax for How to Be a Gentleman because that show would have never gotten these kind of numbers and Rules would have died on Saturday night. At 9pm, Person of Interest was up four tenths in viewers but down a tenth in the demo. The show is doing well enough to survive but not well enough for Thursday at 9pm so what will CBS do? Reports are that a full season order is coming soon. At 10pm, The Mentalist was up a tenth in viewers and even in the demo, but it seems to have hit a wall this season.

Over on ABC, the cancelled Charlie's Angels was down three tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo. ABC has a few more episodes left of Angels to air but it's unknown what they will fill the timeslot with as Thursday 8pm continues to be a problem for them. At 9pm, Grey's Anatomy was down half a million viewers but even in the demo. Though it's numbers have fallen very far from its peak, a 3.6 demo is pretty good for a drama on any network. Finally at 10pm, Private Practice was down a tenth in viewers and even in the demo. NBC was in repeats to pathetically low numbers while FOX got a decent performance (but down year-to-year) from the World Series.