30 Rock sinks like a stone.
NBC: Yes, things could get worse for NBC’s Thursday. 30 ROCK, making its final season debut, kicked off with a dreadful 1.3, down in every measurable respect (last season’s premiere, last season’s finale, last season’s average, Community‘s premiere last season in that timeslot). That being the case, you almost couldn’t blame UP ALL NIGHT for holding steady from last week at a still-pitiful 1.4. THE OFFICE held onto its core of true believers with 2.1, and then the one tiny bit of not-terrible news was that PARKS & RECREATION was up 0.3 from last week to 1.9. No, wait–it must be “good” news that ROCK CENTER also climbed 0.3, all the way to a life-support 1.1.
ABC: LAST RESORT fell 0.4 from its premiere to 1.8, and continues to skew very old, with 2/3 of its viewers over 50. GREY’S ANATOMY was down a big 0.7 from the season premiere to 3.7, although some slippage was to be expected once the big who-died-in-the-plane-crash cliffhanger was resolved. SCANDAL held even at 2.1 despite its lead-in’s drop.
CBS: ELEMENTARY took a fairly steep tumble from last week’s premiere, down half a ratings point to 2.6. That was enough to win the hour, though, so if it can hold at that level, it would still be a moderate success. Earlier, the BIG BANG THEORY/2 1/2 MEN combo easily won the 8PM hour, with Big Bang down just a tick to 4.9, and MEN actually up for the night to 3.7. (However, those numbers may come down a bit, as the CBS affiliate in Phoenix carried the NFL Network feed for the Thursday night game.) PERSON OF INTEREST was also up a tad to 3.1 (again, subject to a football caveat).
FOX: THE X FACTOR slipped slightly to 3.1, while a big “break-up” episode of GLEE climbed by 0.2 to 2.6.
CW: The last network to wrap up its summer programming garnered a 0.3 for the finale of THE NEXT.
Everything is new tonight except for reruns of THE VOICE and X FACTOR at 8PM, and a CW retread of HART OF DIXIE.
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