RATINGS RECAP: 1/12/12

ABC
8:00 Wipeout
Viewers: 7.1 million, 18-49 demo: 2.2
9:00 Grey's Anatomy
Viewers: 10.7 million, 18-49 demo: 3.8
10:00 Private Practice
Viewers: 6.6 million, 18-49 demo: 2.3

CBS
8:00 The Big Bang Theory
Viewers: 16.1 million, 18-49 demo: 5.3
8:30 Rob
Viewers: 13.5 million, 18-49 demo: 4.1
9:00 Person of Interest
Viewers: 14.9 million, 18-49 demo: 3.2
10:00 The Mentalist
Viewers: 13.7 million, 18-49 demo: 2.7

NBC
8:00 30 Rock
Viewers: 4.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.8
8:30 Parks and Recreation
Viewers: 4.1 million, 18-49 demo: 1.9
9:00 The Office
Viewers: 5.9 million, 18-49 demo: 2.9
9:30 Up All Night
Viewers: 4.2 million, 18-49 demo: 2.0
10:00 The Firm
Viewers: 4.2 million, 18-49 demo: 1.0

FOX
8:00 Bones
Viewers: 8.6 million, 18-49 demo: 2.4
9:00 The Finder
Viewers: 5.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.7

CBS had great news on Thursday night as its entire lineup shined. At 8pm, The Big Bang Theory was up a big 2.1 million viewers and seven tenths in the demo from its last new episode on December 8. The viewer total is a season high and the demo almost reached those heights. This might be the highest Big Bang goes with American Idol coming next week but it is just soaring right now and many attribute that to its big success in syndication this fall. The good news kept rolling at 8:30pm where the series premiere of Rob had one of the best comedy debuts in a season of good comedy debuts. The numbers easily eclipsed anything Rules of Engagement did this season. Will Rob join the long CBS list of shows that don't win awards but win ratings? We'll see how it does next week. At 9pm, Person of Interest hit a series high as it was up 2 million viewers and four tenths in the demo from its last airing. This show is moving in the right direction for CBS as most freshman dramas don't hit a series high in January. At 10pm, The Mentalist was up half a million viewers and even in the demo.


FOX had a rough Thursday night one week ahead of the American Idol train. Bones was good at 8pm where it was actually up two tenths in viewers and even in the demo from its last new airing at 9pm with a better lead-in. But the news took a turn for the worse at 9pm where spinoff The Finder had a rough debut, finishing a distant fourth in the demo. We'll need to hold off final judgment for this show as it will air after American Idol starting next week but this is not a promising start.

NBC's ratings woes continued with its new Thursday lineup. At 8pm, the season premiere of 30 Rock was not much of an improvement over Community as it sunk to a 1.8 demo. None of NBC's comedies are working in this slot (or anywhere, for that matter). At 8:30pm, Parks and Recreation was up half a million viewers and a tenth in the demo, eclipsing 30 Rock in the latter category. At 9pm, The Office remained the lone respectable performer as it was up a tenth in viewers and even in the demo from its last airing. The biggest disappointment of the night came from Up All Night at 9:30pm however. Night could barely top Whitney's performance in this slot (and Whitney outperformed those numbers in its new Wednesday timeslot). This show still feels like a better fit on this night but this has to be considered disappointing as NBC thought it would hold The Office's audience better. At 10pm, The Firm made its time period premiere lower than a burnoff episode of Prime Suspect a few weeks ago. This show is a complete bust - NBC got it cheap but will keeping it on the air even be worth it?

Finally on ABC, Wipeout started out the night down 1.3 million viewers and half a demo point from last week when it had no competition. Given the competition, this isn't bad but it might get rocked next week with American Idol coming as it did last year. At 9pm, Grey's Anatomy was down 1.4 million viewers and seven tenths in the demo. While a steep drop, it's still above most of its fall ratings and it easily won the hour in the demo. Finally at 10pm, Private Practice was down 1.1 million viewers and four tenths in the demo.