nielsen ratings
(fast national numbers for thursday, september 22, 2011)

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

FOX (12.07 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 4.1, #1) won the Thursday night of premiere week for the first time ever last night thanks to "The X Factor" (11.43 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 3.9, #T5) and a second hour of "The X Factor" (12.71 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 4.4, #3).

CBS (13.64 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.6, #2) then was the most-watched network with the return of "The Big Bang Theory" (14.06 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 4.8, #2), a second "The Big Bang Theory" (14.65 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 5.0, #1), the premiere of "Person of Interest" (13.22 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 3.1, #9) and the season premiere of "The Mentalist" (13.36 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.8, #10).

Next up was ABC (9.79 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 3.4, #3) with the launch of "Charlie's Angels" (8.74 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 2.1, #11) followed by the season premiere of "Grey's Anatomy" (10.11 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 3.9, #T5) and a second hour of "Grey's Anatomy" (10.53 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 4.3, #4).

Meanwhile, NBC (5.74 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 2.4, #4) offered up the return of "Community" (3.98 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 1.7, #14), "Parks & Recreation" (4.11 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 2.0, #12) and "The Office" (7.63 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 3.9, #T5) followed by the debuts of "Whitney" (6.71 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 3.2, #8) and "Prime Suspect" (6.00 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.8, #13).

And finally, week two of "The Vampire Diaries" (2.49 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 1.2, #15) and "The Secret Circle" (2.05 million viewers, #16; adults 18-49: 0.9, #16) rounded out the night on The CW (2.27 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.0, #5). In the netlet's target demo (women 18-34), "Diaries" posted a 1.6 rating while "Circle" delivered a 1.2 rating.

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
-14.29% - The Vampire Diaries
-30.77% - The Secret Circle

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
+109.52% - The X Factor - 9:00 (vs. Fringe)
+44.44% - The X Factor - 8:00 (vs. Bones)
+31.25% - Charlie's Angels (vs. My Generation)
+30.30% - Grey's Anatomy - 10:00 (vs. Private Practice)
+28.57% - Prime Suspect (vs. The Apprentice)
+28.21% - The Big Bang Theory - 8:30 (vs. Bleep My Dad Says)
0.00% - The Big Bang Theory - 8:00
-8.57% - Whitney (vs. Outsourced)
-8.82% - Person of Interest (vs. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation)
-9.30% - The Office
-15.15% - The Mentalist
-18.18% - The Secret Circle (vs. Nikita)
-22.73% - Community
-23.08% - Parks & Recreation (vs. 30 Rock)
-25.00% - The Vampire Diaries
-26.42% - Grey's Anatomy - 9:00

In late-night metered market ratings (via NBC's press release):

In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 2.9/8; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.8/7; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 3.0/7; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.5/5.

In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 0.9/4; "Late Show," 0.7/3; "Nightline," 1.1/5; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.6/4.

At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.4/5 in metered-market households) tied CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.4/5). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.5/3 in 18-49) topped "Late Late Show" (0.4/3).

At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.9/4 in metered-market households and a 0.4/3 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters

Here are the highlights of the 15 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (9/23/10):

CBS (14.37 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.7, #1) took over the Thursday throne last night thanks to the season premieres of "The Big Bang Theory" (13.95 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 4.8, #2), "Bleep My Dad Says" (12.48 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 3.9, #4), "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (14.57 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 3.4, #6) and "The Mentalist" (15.33 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.3, #T7).

"Bang" and "Bleep" both grew - the former, rather significantly - from the comparable episode of "Survivor" a year ago (see below).

Second place then went to ABC (9.43 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 3.4, #2) with the launch of "My Generation" (5.22 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.6, #T13) followed by new episodes of "Grey's Anatomy" (14.04 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 5.3, #1) and "Private Practice" (9.02 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 3.3, #T7).

"Generation" debuted down a troubling 61.0% from the launch of "FlashForward" last season (see below).

Next up was NBC (5.73 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 2.6, #3) with its openers to "Community" (5.01 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 2.2, #11), "30 Rock" (5.85 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 2.6, #10), "The Office" (8.39 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 4.3, #3) and "Outsourced" (7.44 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 3.5, #5) followed by a new "The Apprentice" (3.85 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 1.4, #15).

"Outsourced" was off a modest -5.4% from "Community's" 9/17/09 launch despite "The Office" being up 7.5% from that same date.

Next up was FOX (7.81 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.4, #4) with the season premieres of "Bones" (9.79 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 2.7, #9) and "Fringe" (5.83 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 2.1, #12).

And finally, new episodes of "The Vampire Diaries" (3.57 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 1.6, #T13) and "Nikita" (3.22 million viewers, #16; adults 18-49: 1.1, #16) on The CW (3.39 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.3, #5) rounded out the evening.

In late-night metered market ratings, ABC's "Nightline" (3.2/8) took top honors over NBC's "Leno" (2.9/8) and CBS's "Letterman" (3.1/8). Rounding out the night then were "Kimmel" (1.6/5) on ABC "Ferguson" (1.5/6) on CBS and "Fallon" (1.4/5) and "Daly" (0.8/4) on NBC.

Source: Nielsen Media Research