The last big Thursday with original regular programming was mostly a bust, as ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and NBC’s “The Apprentice” posted their lowest adults 18-49 ratings for a fresh Thursday episode.
The two Thursday giants, “Grey’s” (7.0 rating/17 share among adults 18-49, 17.6 million viewers overall) and “CSI” (5.0/12, 18.1 million) still dominated the night, finishing first among adults 18-49 and total viewers, respectively.
The originals of “Grey’s” and “CSI” at 9 p.m. took a toll on “Celebrity Apprentice” (3.5/8, 8.1 million), which fell 22% from its premiere last week, according to preliminary Nielsen estimates.
NBC’s “My Name Is Earl” (3.4/9, 7.7 million) was solid at 8 p.m., winning the half-hour in the 18-49 demo, but the final available original episode of “30 Rock” (2.8/7, 6.0 million) fell to third place at 8:30 p.m. behind ABC’s “Ugly Betty” and Fox’s “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?”
At 10 p.m., NBC’s “ER” (3.5/10, 9.1 million) edged CBS’ “Without a Trace” (3.3/9, 13.2 million).
For the night, ABC (4.2/11, 11.9 million) and CBS (3.5/9, 13.5 million) split the top honors in adults 18-49 and total viewers. NBC (3.3/9, 8.0 million) was third, followed by Fox (2.6/7, 8.4 million).
