or


[11/05/10 - 08:44 AM]
Thursday's Broadcast Ratings: CBS Holds Off ABC Surge
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)

nielsen ratings
(fast national numbers for thursday, november 4, 2010)

Here are the highlights of the 16 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night:

CBS (13.52 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.4, #1) held onto top honors on Thursday with new episodes of "The Big Bang Theory" (13.88 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 4.6, #1), "Bleep My Dad Says" (10.94 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 3.4, #5), "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (13.87 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 3.3, #6) and "The Mentalist" (14.27 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.9, #7).

ABC (8.75 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 3.1, #2) then took home a competitive second place with a repeat of "Grey's Anatomy" (4.39 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 1.2, #15) followed by new episodes of "Grey's Anatomy" (11.67 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 4.3, #2) and "Private Practice" (10.20 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 3.9, #3).

Next up was NBC (5.21 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 2.3, #3) and its combination of "Community" (4.57 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.9, #11), "30 Rock" (5.29 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 2.4, #10), "The Office" (7.61 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 3.7, #4), "Outsourced" (5.77 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 2.7, #8) and "The Apprentice" (4.02 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 1.4, #14).

Meanwhile, FOX (7.03 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.2, #4) offered up the return of "Bones" (9.10 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 2.5, #9) and "Fringe" (4.97 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 1.8, #12).

And finally, The CW (3.01 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.2, #5) served up new episodes of "The Vampire Diaries" (3.62 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 1.6, #13) and "Nikita" (2.45 million viewers, #16; adults 18-49: 0.9, #16).

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49): Private Practice (44.40%), Grey's Anatomy (13.20%), The Big Bang Theory (12.20%), Bleep My Dad Says (9.70%), 30 Rock (9.10% vs. 10/21/10), Outsourced (0.00%), The Apprentice (0.00%), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (0.00%), Bones (-3.80% vs. 10/14/10), The Office (-5.10%), Fringe (-5.30% vs. 10/14/10), The Vampire Diaries (-5.90%), The Mentalist (-9.40%), Nikita (-10.00%), Community (-20.80%).

In late-night metered market ratings, ABC's "Nightline" (3.5/8) and CBS's "Letterman" (3.6/9) took top honors over NBC's "Leno" (3.0/7). Rounding out the night then were "Kimmel" (1.6/5) on ABC "Ferguson" (1.7/6) on CBS and "Fallon" (1.4/5) and "Daly" (0.8/3) on NBC.


Here are the highlights of the 15 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (11/5/09):

ABC (10.43 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 3.7, #1) was the network to beat among adults 18-49 on Thursday thanks to new episodes of "FlashForward" (8.47 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 2.6, #8), "Grey's Anatomy" (13.62 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 5.0, #1) and "Private Practice" (9.18 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 3.5, #4).

The silver then went to CBS (14.40 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.5, #2) with its mix of "Survivor: Samoa" (12.71 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 3.7, #3), "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (15.14 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 3.4, #T5) and "The Mentalist" (15.37 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.4, #T5).

Next up was NBC (5.65 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 2.4, #3) with new episodes of "Community" (5.64 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 2.3, #10), "Parks & Recreation" (4.93 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 2.2, #11), "The Office" (7.94 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 3.9, #2), "30 Rock" (5.94 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 2.9, #7) and "The Jay Leno Show" (4.72 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 1.6, #14).

Meanwhile, FOX (6.71 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.1, #4) offered up the return of "Bones" (8.46 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 2.5, #9) and "Fringe" (4.95 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 1.7, #13).

And finally, new episodes of "The Vampire Diaries" (4.21 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 2.0, #12) and "Supernatural" (2.71 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 1.2, #15) on The CW (3.46 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.6, #5) rounded out the evening.

Source: Nielsen Media Research





  [november 2010]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
 


· SHOWATCH
(series past and present)
· DEVWATCH
(series in development)
· MOVIEWATCH
(tv movies and mini-series)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[11/21/25 - 12:00 PM]
CBS Series Top L+7 Multiplatform Competitive Charts
Seven weeks into the 2025/26 broadcast season, "Tracker" is the #1 series, averaging 14.2 million viewers across broadcast and streaming.

[11/20/25 - 04:55 PM]
"Dancing with the Stars" Jumps to Season Highs with Epic "Prince Night"
The show rose dramatically over its year-ago penultimate episode in Total Viewers, with its best semifinals performance in seven years.

[11/20/25 - 11:31 AM]
"Landman" Season 2 Premiere Delivers Record Breaking 9.2 Million Global Streaming Views in Its First Two Days on Paramount+
Views increased by +262% from the first season premiere, making it the most watched premiere for any original series for Paramount+.

[11/20/25 - 08:22 AM]
"Live with Kelly and Mark" Hits Season Highs with Best Performance Among Total Viewers and Households in Five Months
Friday's "Live's Halloween Show: "It's Trending!" posted its top telecast in Total Viewers (2.554 million) and Households (1.62 million) in over six months.

[11/18/25 - 03:40 PM]
"College GameDay" Scores Best Week 12 Show Ever in Steel City Stop; ABC & ESPN Deliver Top Four Most-Watched Games of Week 12
ABC is registering 6.9 million viewers per game, on pace for the most-watched season on record for the network.

[11/18/25 - 03:06 PM]
FOX NFL Off to Its Best Start to the Season Since 2016
Season-to-date, the NFL on FOX is off to its best start to the season since 2016, averaging 19,038,000 viewers and up +4% over last year's season-to-date average (18,239,000).

[11/18/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of November 10 - "The Beast in Me" Plays Mind Games at No. 1 in This Week's Top 10
Those wishing to escape into fantasy opted for "The Witcher" Season 4, placing the series at No. 2 on the list with 3.6 million views in its third week in the Top 10.

[11/14/25 - 10:30 AM]
"High Potential" Season 2 Premiere Scores Over 21 Million Total Viewers Across 35 Days
Season to date, the powerhouse drama continues to dominate, ranking as the No. 1 original broadcast series for the second season in a row among Adults 18-49 (2.42 rating), based on Nielsen cross-platform rankings.

[11/14/25 - 09:35 AM]
"Dancing with the Stars" Rises Week to Week with 6.67 Million Total Viewers as Show Heads to Semi-Finals
This marks the show's best performance for its last episode before the semi-finals among Total Viewers in six years and among Adults 18-49 in eight years.

[11/14/25 - 09:31 AM]
"Wicked: One Wonderful Night" Shines for NBC
Across all platforms, the special drew 3.6 million viewers, which was up 64% from last year's "Defying Gravity: The Curtain Rises on Wicked" special.

[11/12/25 - 08:27 AM]
ABC Scores Top Game of the Week for the 10th Straight Week; "College GameDay" Posts Week 11 Growth and Record Season Rolls On
LSU-Alabama (7.5 million viewers) was the most-watched game of the week, followed by Texas A&M-Missouri (4.9 million) and BYU-Texas Tech (4.0 million) among the top five.

[11/11/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of November 3 - "Frankenstein" Comes to Life at No. 1 in This Week's Top 10
For more monsters, viewers turned to Season 4 of "The Witcher," putting the series at No. 1 on the English TV list with 7.4 million views.

[11/06/25 - 02:15 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54
"Nightline" was up on the previous week by double digits in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.

[11/05/25 - 09:39 AM]
"College GameDay" and ESPN College Football on ABC Win Week 10
Georgia-Florida led the week with 7.8 million viewers, marking the largest audience on record for this rivalry in a full national window.

[11/05/25 - 08:00 AM]
The NASCAR Xfinity Series Concludes First Full Year on The Cw Network with Most-Watched Season in Four Years
The championship race, which saw Jesse Love emerge as the season winner, drew 1,015,000 total viewers and peaked at 1,191,000 total viewers from 9:30-9:45pm ET.