Ratings News - 28th September 2012 *Full Tables Added*

Metered Market Thursday Ratings
Solid Victory for CBS; Positive Sampling for The Last Resort and Elementary

Thursday 9/27/12
Metered Market Results

Household
Rating/Share
CBS 9.3/15
ABC 6.7/11
Fox 5.4/ 8
NBC 2.8/ 4
CW 0.6/ 1

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-Percent Change from the Year-Ago Opening Season Thursday (on 9/22/11):
CBS: + 4, ABC: – 7, NBC: -33, Fox: -35, CW: -70

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-Winners:
The Big Bang Theory (CBS), Two and a Half Men (CBS), Person of Interest (CBS), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), Elementary (CBS)

-Down But Not Out:
The X Factor (Fox)

-Respectable Sampling:
The Last Resort (ABC)

-Wise to Call it Quits:
The Office (NBC)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
Saturday Night Election Special (NBC), Up All Night (NBC), Parks and Recreation (NBC), Glee (Fox), The Next (CW), Rock Center With Brian Williams (NBC)

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Ratings Breakdown:
It was an easy overnight Thursday victory for CBS, which finished first in each of the six half-hours. Season six of The Big Bang Theory took top-rated honors for the evening with a 10.5 rating/17 share in the 8 p.m. half-hour, which was nine percent above its one-hour year-ago season-opener (9.6/16 on 9/22/11). The 10th season premiere of relocated Two and a Half Men fit in well at an 8.6/14 at 8:30 p.m., which is a considerable improvement, no doubt, from short-lived fall 2011 time period occupant How To Be a Gentleman. And season two of Person of Interest followed with a rock-solid 9.4/14 at 9 p.m., which was up by nine percent from its year-ago series-premiere (8.6/13 on 9/22/11). Competing Grey’s Anatomy should have no trouble dominating among adults 18-49, but there is something to be said about a solid crime solver like Person of Interest that appeals to the masses.

At 10 p.m. on CBS was the series-premiere of Elementary, which resonated at a 9.0/16 at 10 p.m. Comparably, Elementary bested the year-ago season-premiere of former time period occupant The Mentalist (8.6/15 on 9/22/11) by five percent. And the overnight retention out of Person of Interest was 96 percent. Consider this a stellar start for Elementary.

In the second series-premiere of the evening, drama The Last Resort on ABC was respectfully sampled at a third-place 6.5/11 in the overnights form 8-9 p.m. Comparably, that outdelivered the year-ago series debut of short-lived Charlie’s Angels (6.1/ 9 on 9/22/11) by seven percent. And The Last Resort increased by six percent in the second half-hour (6.3/10 to 6.7/11) versus a loss of three percent for Charlie’s Angels. Let’s see what happens next week.

Next on ABC was the ninth season-premiere of Grey’s Anatomy at a second-place 8.6/13 at 9 p.m., which was 12 percent above the year-ago opener (7.7/12 on 9/22/11). Season two of drama Scandal, also from Shonda Rhimes, followed with a second-place 5.1/ 9 at 10 p.m. While that, comparably, held only 60 percent of the 9:30 p.m. portion of Grey’s Anatomy (8.5/13), the gap opposite competing Elementary demographically will be considerably narrower than the overnights.

Third overall for the evening was Fox’s combination of The X Factor (#2: 6.7/11) and relocated Glee (#4: 4.1/ 7), which together dipped by a noticeable 33 percent from two-hours of The X Factor on the year-ago evening (8.1/13 on 9/29/11). One year earlier, Glee was considerably stronger at a 6.3/10 in its former Tuesday 8 p.m. time period (on 9/27/11), and retention out of the 8:30 p.m. portion of The X Factor (7.1/11) was only 58 percent.

Elsewhere, NBC could not compete with its low-rated combination of another Saturday Night Live Election Special (#4: 3.7/ 6), Up All Night (#4: 2.5/ 4), The Office (#4: 3.2/ 5), Parks and Recreation (#4: 2.5/ 4) and Rock Center With Brian Williams (#3: 2.4/ 4). Compared to opening Thursday in 2011 (4.2/ 7 on 9/11/11), this was an average loss of 33 percent. And The CW populated the evening with a repeat of The Vampire Diaries (#5: 0.7/ 1) and flop singing competition The Next (#5: 0.6/ 1). Next week on NBC will feature the return of sitcom 30 Rock at 8 p.m.

Source: Nielsen Media Research

Source: Marc Berman@TVMediaInsights