'Parks and Recreation' hits season high

It was a muddled Thursday night in the ratings as broadcast shows largely stayed close to their last original airings and kept surprises to a minimum.

ABC, CBS and Fox were all within a tenth of first place. ABC edged out its rivals, though no thanks to "The Deep End" (5.1 million viewers, 1.3 preliminary adults 18-49 rating), which made the most dramatic move of the evening, down 28% from last week to place fifth in the hour. "Grey's Anatomy" (12.5 million, 4.5) and "Private Practice" (9.3 million, 3.4) were both down slightly.

CBS had its "Surviving Survivor" special (8.3 million, 2.4) followed by the return of Jorja Fox to "CSI" (14.6 million, 3.2), which along with "The Mentalist" (14.7 million, 3.3) climbed a tad.

Fox's "Bones" (12.3 million, 3.3) and "Fringe" (7.4 million, 2.6) fell from last week's peak, but remained higher than average.

Though in fourth place, NBC's comedy block posted across-the-board gains, with "Parks and Recreation" (4.9 million, 2.3) up 15% to hit a season high. "Community" (5.2 million, 2.2), "The Office" (7.4 million, 3.8) and "30 Rock" (5.9 million, 2.9) also climbed slightly. The final Thursday "Jay Leno Show" (3.9 million, 1.2) was flat from last week.

The CW's "Vampire Diaries" (4 million, 1.8) was steady in the adult demo, though rose 7% among the network's target demo of women 18-34. "Supernatural" (2.3 million, 1.1) slipped a notch.