RATINGS RECAP: 11/5/15

ABC
8:00 Grey's Anatomy
Viewers: 8.5 million, 18-49 demo: 2.3
9:00 Scandal
Viewers: 8.0 million, 18-49 demo: 2.2
10:00 How to Get Away with Murder
Viewers: 6.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.9

CBS
8:00 The Big Bang Theory
Viewers: 14.8 million, 18-49 demo: 3.7
8:30 Life in Pieces
Viewers: 7.9 million, 18-49 demo: 1.9
9:00 Mom
Viewers: 7.3 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5
9:30 The Big Bang Theory (Repeat)
Viewers: 6.2 million, 18-49 demo: 1.3
10:00 Elementary
Viewers: 5.6 million, 18-49 demo: 1.1

NBC
8:00 Heroes: Reborn
Viewers: 4.0 million, 18-49 demo: 1.3
9:00 The Blacklist
Viewers: 6.4 million, 18-49 demo: 1.4
10:00 The Player
Viewers: 3.2 million, 18-49 demo: 0.7

FOX
8:00 Bones
Viewers: 5.3 million, 18-49 demo: 1.1
9:00 Sleepy Hollow
Viewers: 3.0 million, 18-49 demo: 0.9

Thursday night had the return of the regular CBS lineup following several weeks of football to start the season. However, the only good news came from The Big Bang Theory. It was down from its last Monday airing on the Supergirl premiere night, but it was on par with most its Monday airings this year. But then the other shows struggled big time (and didn't seem to at first when football preemptions in Cincinnati and Cleveland were included). Life in Pieces was on the low end of its Monday airings and already below a 2 in the demo. Why did they give this a full season? The worst news, however, came from Mom which crashed to a series low in the demo. This show has some heat last year but this was a disastrous start to its third season. After a repeat of Big Bang, Elementary returned to a series low in total viewers and a near series low in the demo. If this manages to last the year on Thursdays, I don't see any scenario where it comes back to the night next year.

On ABC, Grey's Anatomy was down half a million viewers and a tenth in the demo from its last airing two weeks ago. Believe it or not, this veteran drama was the top draw of the TGIT block. That's great for Grey's but more troubling for ABC because of how the other two shows are doing. At 9pm, Scandal was up two tenths in viewers but down another tenth in the demo. This is the first time since May 2, 2013 that Scandal has dropped from its Grey's Anatomy lead-in. Grey's has done everything ABC needed it to do since its move to 8pm but ABC also needs the later shows to be stronger, that's why the move happened in the first place. Grey's should not be the top demo of the night for ABC. At 10pm, How to Get Away with Murder had a small rally as it was up two tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo. I guess that's a little bit encouraging since its lead-in was down.

There was a surprising development on NBC where Heroes: Reborn was even in viewers but up three tenths in the demo for its best performance since the second week of the season. I'm honestly surprised by this and don't really know how to explain it, but it might not be a dead show walking yet. It couldn't help the rest of the night as The Blacklist was down six tenths in viewers and a tenth in the demo and The Player was down seven tenths in viewers and even in the demo. Both shows hit series lows in total viewers. Finally on FOX, both shows came back pretty substantially from their crossover event. Bones was down 1.3 million viewers and two tenths in the demo while Sleepy Hollow was down 1.6 million viewers and two tenths in the demo.

WINNER OF THE NIGHT: Heroes: Reborn (NBC)
LOSER OF THE NIGHT: Mom (CBS)