Maybe absence (and a spot-on Sarah Palin impression) does make the heart grow fonder. Emmy-winner 30 Rock’s late-in-the-season premiere didn’t win its 9:30 p.m. time slot on Thursday, but the sitcom starring Tina Fey (pictured, left, with Megan Mullally) did nab 8.5 million viewers (up a million from last year’s opener) on a yet another Thursday night on which CBS claimed victory. 30 Rock’s NBC lead-in, 9 p.m.’s The Office, had a similarly good night. The show’s Halloween episode attracted 9.3 million watchers, the most this season since its Sept. 25 premiere. ER also scored for the third-place Peacock network. The return of Shane West’s double amputee Dr. Ray Barnett to County General drew 9.1 million viewers at 10 p.m. (16 percent more than tuned in for the show’s season debut), placing ER just above its ABC opponent, Life on Mars.
But don’t cry for Life on Mars. The freshman drama was finally up after two weeks of steady decline: 8.4 million tuned in, a 6 percent increase from the previous episode. Elsewhere on the alphabet network, Ugly Betty secured 8.6 million watchers, slightly below last week’s tally (Ralph Macchio’s guest spot didn’t do it for you?), and Grey’s Anatomy earned its highest ratings since September, taking in 15.1 million viewers and earning the night’s No. 1 spot among adults 18 to 49.
Nevertheless, CBS was the night’s top net, winning every time slot
between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. and collecting an average 14.4 million viewers.
At 8 p.m., Survivor: Gabon drew 13.3 million watchers (still a bit below Survivor: China’s 14.2 million average). At 9 p.m., Thursday’s highest-rated show for four weeks in a row, CSI,
attracted 18.6 million (a decline form last week’s 19.5 million, but well above
last season’s 16 million average). And at 10 p.m. the freshman
procedural Eleventh Hour held on to 60 percent of CSI’s viewers, rounding out the night for the Eye with 11.5 million.
Fox’s double shot of Kitchen Nightmares (a rerun at 8 p.m.
and a new episode at 9 p.m.) brought in an average 3.8 million viewers for the
network. While over at the usually neglected CW, Smallville held steady at 4.2 million and Supernatural earned 3.5 million (a 40 percent increase from last season’s average).
More TV News:
30 Rock recap
Survivor: Gabon recap
Grey’s Anatomy recap
The Office recap
Life on Mars recap
CSI recap
Nevertheless, CBS was the night’s top net, winning every time slotbetween 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. and collecting an average 14.4 million viewers.At 8 p.m., Survivor: Gabon drew 13.3 million watchers (still a bit below Survivor: China’s 14.2 million average). At 9 p.m., Thursday’s highest-rated show for four weeks in a row, CSI,attracted 18.6 million (a decline form last week’s 19.5 million, but well abovelast season’s 16 million average). And at 10 p.m. the freshmanprocedural Eleventh Hour held on to 60 percent of CSI’s viewers, rounding out the night for the Eye with 11.5 million.
Fox’s double shot of Kitchen Nightmares (a rerun at 8 p.m.and a new episode at 9 p.m.) brought in an average 3.8 million viewers for thenetwork. While over at the usually neglected CW, Smallville held steady at 4.2 million and Supernatural earned 3.5 million (a 40 percent increase from last season’s average).
More TV News:
30 Rock recap
Survivor: Gabon recap
Grey’s Anatomy recap
The Office recap
Life on Mars recap
CSI recap
That’s awesome! I hope “30 Rock’s” numbers can stay up in the coming weeks!
Go SPN!
Yeah Supernatural!!! It’s not only 40% increase from last season’s average .. it is an increase from last week’s numbers. And this one counts in November sweeps!!!
Why are you guys so adamant in not posting the 18-49?
Ok let me get this straight, 30 Rock comes in third place with 8.5 million viewers and CSI is in first place with 18.6 million viewers whcih if I calculate correctly is twice as many viewers as 30 Rock, however 30 Rock gets the headline with Big Premiere. I doubt 30 Rock will be in the top ten much less the top twenty. Hmmmm critics will do anything to draw attention to their favorites, so much for impartial journalism
Mark, journalism is about catching people’s interest. Do you think a headline that says “CSI Wins Timeslot for 2,336th week in a row” would be interesting? CSI always dominates. 30 Rock had its highest ratings ever. And also? CSI sucks and 30 Rock doesn’t, and EW writers are smart, so that might also have something to do with it.
Grey’s Anatomy- No. 1 by more than a mile in the all important 18-49 yr. olds demo. category, no. 1 in dvr recordings, and steadily rising according to tvbythenumbers.com
one word:
Supernatural
=]
enough said.
I’m not surprised “Supernatural” is doing so well this season. The show has always been really good, but this season has been outstanding. “Smallville” has also made some refreshing changes this season. It almost feels like a brand new show (in a good way).
Congrats to Supernatural for picking up viewers even though it’s in its fourth season. Hopefully, people are discovering this underappreciated gem.