CBS won its first Thursday night of the 2011-2012 season last night thanks to new episodes of The Big Bang Theory (14.83 million viewers, A18-49: 5.2), Rules of Engagement (11.03 million viewers, A18-49: 3.6), Person of Interest (11.59 million viewers, A18-49: 2.6), and The Mentalist (12.08 million viewers, A18-49: 2.5).
Fox fell to second place with all new episodes of The X-Factor (9.45 million viewers, A18-49: 3.0), and Bones (8.82 million viewers, A18-49: 2.8).
ABC finished in third place with a 20/20 special featuring Regis Philbin (8.03 million viewers, A18-49: 1.5), and a two-hour Private Practice (7.16 million viewers, A18-49: 2.5).
NBC settled for fourth place with new episodes of Community (3.36 million viewers, A18-49: 1.6) – up 7%, Parks and Recreation (3.71 million viewers, A18-49: 2.0), The Office (5.55 million viewers, A18-49: 2.9), Whitney (4.09 million viewers, A18-49: 1.9) – hitting season lows, and Prime Suspect (4.39 million viewers, A18-49: 1.1).
On The CW, the feature film Beneath the Blue (2.58 million viewers, A18-49: 0.8) ended the night.