RATINGS RECAP: 10/10/13

ABC
8:00 Once Upon a Time in Wonderland
Viewers: 5.8 million, 18-49 demo: 1.7
9:00 Grey's Anatomy
Viewers: 8.8 million, 18-49 demo: 2.8
10:00 Scandal
Viewers: 9.0 million, 18-49 demo: 3.1

CBS
8:00 The Big Bang Theory
Viewers: 17.6 million, 18-49 demo: 5.1
8:30 The Millers
Viewers: 11.7 million, 18-49 demo: 3.0
9:00 The Crazy Ones
Viewers: 9.7 million, 18-49 demo: 2.4
9:30 Two and a Half Men
Viewers: 9.1 million, 18-49 demo: 2.3
10:00 Elementary
Viewers: 9.1 million, 18-49 demo: 1.9

NBC
8:00 Parks and Recreation
Viewers: 3.2 million, 18-49 demo: 1.2
8:30 Welcome to the Family
Viewers: 2.5 million, 18-49 demo: 0.8
9:00 Sean Saves the World
Viewers: 3.3 million, 18-49 demo: 1.0
9:30 The Michael J. Fox Show
Viewers: 3.9 million, 18-49 demo: 1.2
10:00 Parenthood
Viewers: 3.8 million, 18-49 demo: 1.2 

FOX
8:00 The X Factor
Viewers: 6.5 million, 18-49 demo: 2.0
9:00 Glee
Viewers: 7.4 million, 18-49 demo: 2.9 

On Thursday night, the ABC Thursday 8pm curse struck again as Once Upon a Time in Wonderland had a very soft debut with a 1.7 demo. For those keeping score, that's lower than the failed Last Resort had in its premiere in the same slot last year. Also, a Scandal clip show last week did almost as well. We'll see how things go in future weeks but it's not looking too promising and it seems the Once Upon a Time fad is fading so a spinoff would have a tough go of it. At 9pm, the 200th episode of Grey's Anatomy was down eight tenths in viewers and three tenths in the demo. At 10pm, Scandal fell 1.5 million viewers and half a demo point from its season premiere last week. It's a steep drop but last week was so high, this is probably a lot closer to where it will settle.

Over on CBS, The Big Bang Theory was down six tenths in viewers and just a tenth in the demo, towering above everything else with a 5.1 demo. Week two of The Millers was down 1.4 million viewers and two tenths in the demo from its premiere. The good news is it didn't drop much from its premiere at all. The bad news is it has terrible retention out of Big Bang just like failed past series have including $#*! My Dad Says, How to Be a Gentleman, and Rob. At 9pm, The Crazy Ones had a troubling third week drop as it was down another 2 million viewers and half a demo point. That is bad news since the 8pm hour held up well as did its lead-out, Two and a Half Men, which was down just two tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo. Crazy Ones may become a problem soon. At 10pm, Elementary was down three tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo.

FOX started out the night with The X Factor which was down six tenths in viewers and even in the demo. It holds up well even though its low for a talent show. At 9pm, the Cory Monteith tribute episode of Glee surged in a big way. It was up 3 million viewers and 1.3 demo points for its best numbers since September 20, 2012. Even though many fans have left the show by now, the tribute to the character of Finn Hudson was a big enough deal to bring a lot of casual fans back in the fold. Glee is off now due to baseball until early November so any bounce it may have had from this episode will probably wear off by then.

Finally, NBC had a horrifying evening as it had record-low ratings and landed in 7th place behind networks like Univision and TBS. It was so bad that Parks and Recreation was actually one of the standouts as it rose a tenth in viewers and was even in the demo. At 8:30pm, Welcome to the Family fell half a million viewers and two tenths in the demo to a horrible 0.8. Reportedly NBC is planning any changes to this lineup quite yet but you have to think things will change here soon especially with Community on the bench. At 9pm, Sean Saves the World was down 1.1 million viewers and a rough four tenths in the demo from its series premiere. At 9:30pm, The Michael J. Fox Show was down another 1.5 million viewers and half a demo point as had a horrible drop. I don't think NBC was planning on a 1.0 and 1.2 demo by early October when they gave Sean Hayes and Michael J. Fox high profile slots for high profile new sitcoms. At 10pm, Parenthood suffered from its lead-ins and was down four tenths in viewers and three tenths in the demo. I don't really know what NBC can do with this night in the immediate future except pull Family, but these are big problems that aren't going to go away.