CBS, “Grey’s Anatomy” run ripshod over competition

Remember when Thursday night belonged to NBC? Seems so long ago, doesn’t it?

The Tiffany network won the first Thursday night of the 2012-13 season in households, total viewers, and in adults 18-49 (Fox won in adults 18-34) thanks to the season premieres of The Big Bang Theory, Two And A Half Men, and the series premiere of Elementary.

All rating numbers are for adults 18-49, unless otherwise noted.

CBS began with Big Bang, finishing first with a 5.0 rating/15 share and 15.6 million viewers, up a tick from the 4.9 for last year’s season premiere. Despite the accolades from fans, yours truly found the season premiere meh-like. Is Raj turning into the live-action version of Family Guy’s Meg Griffin? The writers need to do something with the character before “Raj-bashing” become synonymous with “Meg-bashing”. Men premiered with a 3.5/10 in its new day and time period, down 30 percent from its lead-in, but up 30 percent from the premiere of 2011 time-period occupant How To Be A Gentleman. CBS dipped to second with a 2.9/8 with Person Of Interest, but rebounded nicely with a 3.1/9 for Elementary, and 13.4 million viewers, the second-most watched show of the night. What can I say about Elementary? America loves crap.

ABC started the evening with a 2.2/7 for new submarine drama The Last Resort. Even though the rating is nearly equal to 2011 time-period occupant Charlie’s Angels, Resort is miles (or kilometers) better than the boneheaded revival of the 1970’s crime drama. Grey’s Anatomy followed with a 4.4/12, and handily won the second hour of prime time, thanks to the death of Dr. “McSteamy”. At least we know he won’t resurface at a well-known national burger joint. Finally, Scandal followed with a disappointing 2.1/6, a full rating point behind Elementary.

Fox drew an 3.2/10 for X Factor, down 9 percent from last week. Glee followed with a 2.4/7, down 17 percent from last week, losing to Person Of Interest and Grey’s Anatomy. Not a good start for Glee in its new day and time period.

NBC finished fourth in every time period in the first two hours of primetime with Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update (1.5/6), Up All Night (1.4/4), The Office (2.1/6) and Parks And Recreation (1.6/4). NBC came in last in the final hour of primetime with a 0.8/2 with Rock Center With Brian Williams. Keep in mind that NBC affiliates WBAL in Baltimore and WKYC in Cleveland pre-empted the network to carry the NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football matchup between the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens.

And how did the game do? NFL Network drew 8.1 million viewers, making it the third-watched program of the night, broadcast or cable.