RATINGS RECAP: 9/27/12

ABC
8:00 Last Resort
Viewers: 9.3 million, 18-49 demo: 2.2
9:00 Grey's Anatomy
Viewers: 11.7 million, 18-49 demo: 4.4
10:00 Scandal
Viewers: 6.7 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1

CBS
8:00 The Big Bang Theory
Viewers: 15.7 million, 18-49 demo: 5.0
8:30 Two and a Half Men
Viewers: 12.5 million, 18-49 demo: 3.5
9:00 Person of Interest
Viewers: 14.3 million, 18-49 demo: 2.9
10:00 Elementary
Viewers: 13.4 million, 18-49 demo: 3.1

NBC
8:00 SNL Weekend Update Thursday
Viewers: 4.7 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5
8:30 Up All Night
Viewers: 3.3 million, 18-49 demo: 1.4
9:00 The Office
Viewers: 4.1 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1
9:30 Parks and Recreation
Viewers: 3.3 million, 18-49 demo: 1.6
10:00 Rock Center with Brian Williams
Viewers: 3.1 million, 18-49 demo: 0.8 

FOX 
8:00 The X Factor
Viewers: 9.4 million, 18-49 demo: 3.2
9:00 Glee
Viewers: 5.8 million, 18-49 demo: 2.4

On Thursday night, ABC had a trio of drama premieres. At 8pm, the series premiere of Last Resort delivered solid numbers in a slot that has been horrible for ABC. It did slightly better than last year's premiere of Charlie's Angels and that show had a built in audience because it was a remake. It also grew across the hour which is positive but it's still a hard sell for 8pm Thursday. At 9pm, the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy was absolutely dominant. It delivered the best demo for a drama by far and was well above last year's season premiere and every episode last season except one. This is a great showing for a drama in its ninth season. At 10pm, the season premiere of Scandal was down from the season finale even though it had a much bigger lead-in. This wasn't a great showing and retention was terrible but it was able to hold steady last season no matter what Grey's Anatomy did so it might be ok. 

CBS had a night full of premieres as well. At 8pm, the season premiere of The Big Bang Theory managed to get a 5 demo but could not top demo numbers for the season premiere of Modern Family. Like many shows, it seems to be skewing older than it did last season. The move to Thursday of Two and a Half Men did not quite mean the "power hour" that CBS expected but it still delivered solid numbers. Still, CBS had to hope its retention from Big Bang would be better but the show is getting old. At 9pm, the season premiere of Person of Interest was close to last year's series premiere numbers but somewhat disappointing since many thought it would soar this season. It still might though as it grew during the season last year. At 10pm, CBS had great premiere numbers for its Sherlock Holmes drama Elementary. The show delivered the best demo for a drama premiere besides Revolution. Though it did drop during the 10pm hour, it built on Person of Interest in the demo and that's promising.

NBC saw terrible results for its Thursday lineup as expected though it was not much worse than last week even with the competition. A second special week of SNL Weekend Update Thursday was down half a million viewers and a tenth in the demo. Up All Night was actually up two tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo which is surprising. The Office was down two tenths in viewers and even in the demo. This show used to be the star of the night, now it's merely the only acceptable performer. Parks and Recreation was down two tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo while Rock Center with Brian Williams was down a million viewers and three tenths in the demo as it had much tougher competition. Over on FOX, The X Factor was down eighth tenths in viewers and three tenths in the demo which is not a bad drop with the new shows on ABC and CBS. At 9pm, Glee tumbled 1.7 million viewers and half a demo point, tying a series low in the demo. This show is real tired and might fizzle out for good by the end of the season depending on how FOX's lineup goes.