RATINGS RECAP: 10/21/11

ABC 
8:00 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Viewers: 5.1 million, 18-49 demo: 1.2
9:00 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Viewers: 6.1 million, 18-49 demo: 1.7
10:00 20/20
Viewers: 7.6 million, 18-49 demo: 2.0

CBS
8:00 A Gifted Man
Viewers: 8.7 million, 18-49 demo: 1.2
9:00 CSI: NY
Viewers: 10.7 million, 18-49 demo: 1.8
10:00 Blue Bloods
Viewers: 10.9 million, 18-49 demo: 1.7

NBC
8:00 The Office (Repeat)
Viewers: 2.0 million, 18-49 demo: 0.6
8:30 Parks and Recreation (Repeat)
Viewers: 1.7 million, 18-49 demo: 0.6
9:00 Dateline NBC
Viewers: 4.1 million, 18-49 demo: 1.0

FOX
8:00 Kitchen Nightmares
Viewers: 3.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.4
9:00 Fringe (Repeat)
Viewers: 1.6 million, 18-49 demo: 0.5 

ABC had its new lineup on Friday night with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition moving to the night after many years on Sunday. It got off to an ok start at 8pm but the 9pm episode posted very solid numbers for ABC Fridays. A 1.7 demo is not bad at all with lower expectations for Fridays. Now we'll see how new Sunday occupant Once Upon a Time does. The better lead-in (and engrossing stories) helped 20/20 to its best numbers since early 2011 as it was up a huge 3.3 million viewers and nine tenths in the demo. It had a 2.1 demo which was easily the best of the night on any network. After a slow start with its repeats, it looks like ABC will be a player on Friday nights.

Over on CBS, A Gifted Man started off the night up a strong million viewers but even in the demo. With its best total viewer numbers since the series premiere, CBS will probably start thinking about letting this show have some time to grow. At 9pm, CSI: NY was up six tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo while Blue Bloods was down three tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo. This was the first week this season that Bloods did not build on CSI: NY's audience but maybe part of that was due to the unusually strong competition from 20/20? Elsewhere, NBC's Dateline took a hit from 20/20 and was down a big 1.7 million viewers and half a demo point. Next week, Chuck and the new Grimm join the Friday night crowd. FOX only had a new Kitchen Nightmares which was down a tenth in viewers and even in the demo.