TV Ratings for Thursday, Feb 16th: “Idol” hits lowest ratings since 2002, NBC comedies, “Grey’s” hit series lows,

Fox barely beat the competition Thursday night with a 2-hour edition of American Idol (16.50 million viewers, A18-49: 5.0).

CBS grabbed the silver with new episodes of The Big Bang Theory (15.52 million viewers, A18-49: 5.0) – beating American Idol in the 8-830p.m. timeslot, Rob (10.91 million viewers, A18-49: 3.2), Person of Interest (13.25 million viewers, A18-49: 2.9), and The Mentalist (13.61 million viewers, A18-49: 2.8).

ABC was next with new editions of Winter Wipeout (5.13 million viewers, A18-49: 1.5) – hitting a season low, Grey’s Anatomy (8.13 million viewers, A18-49: 3.1) – hitting a season low, and Private Practice (7.09 million viewers, A18-49: 2.6) – gaining 13% more viewers than last week, one of the only Thursday shows up week vs. last Thursday.

NBC placed a distant fourth with all-new episodes of 30 Rock (3.60 million viewers, A18-49: 1.4), Parks and Recreation (3.51 million viewers, A18-49: 1.7), The Office (4.34 million viewers, A18-49: 2.2) – a series low for the veteran sitcom, Up All Night (3.01 million viewers, A18-49: 1.5), and a repeat of Grimm (2.03 million viewers, A18-49: 0.7). All four comedies hit series lows.

The CW is inching closer to equaling NBC in the ratings with new episodes of The Vampire Dairies (2.86 million viewers, A18-49: 1.3) and The Secret Circle (1.76 million viewers, A18-49: 0.8).