The Sked: Thursday September 27 Ratings — Updated with Official Nationals

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Completely updated with official national ratings.

Thursday premiere night is down 23% collectively for the broadcast networks (10.5 Adult 18-49 rating last night versus 13.7 last fall on premiere Thursday).  CBS is most on track, winning the night and just two tenths of a rating point behind both last year and our estimate for the entire fall this year.

ABC moved into second place on the night in the official nationals, half a rating point behind last year’s rating on this night.  However, ABC is at least initially ahead of the pace we projected for the network on Thursdays during the entire fall.  It could be in relatively decent shape on this night with a little luck.

FOX dropped to a 2.8 rating for the night, well behind last year’s first place pace on the night.

NBC was vastly overstated in the fast nationals because NBC stations in Cleveland (WKYC) and Baltimore (WBAL) were more than happy to pre-empt the NBC Thursday lineup in favor of over-the-air coverage of the NFL Network’s Browns at Ravens Thursday Night Football telecast.  When the Cleveland and Baltimore viewing was processed properly, NBC’s Thursday night came in officially at a 1.4 rating, down from last week’s weak premiere numbers and even lower than we projected back in May.

On the NFL Network the Browns-Ravens game scored a 3.35 rating with Adults 18-49 — and that rating includes viewing on the NFL Network only and not the significant number of viewers who watched over the air in the teams’ home markets on the two NBC affiliates.  Only the two CBS comedies and Grey’s Anatomy were higher-rated with the 18-49 sales demographic last night.   (By the way, among Men 18-49 the game scored a terrific 5.07 rating, while the Women 18-49 rating was a 1.66.)

FOX ‘s X Factor and Glee settled down in their second week (not surprisingly), but both ratings are already below our full fourth quarter projections.  The ratings might shake out a bit more in the coming weeks on FOX Thursday.

Big Bang Theory came up significantly in the official nationals, all the way up to last year’s premiere level.  Two and a Half Men is definitely running out of juice, but it is still huge compared to NBC comedy.  Elementary is off to a promising start — next week it will probably decline ever so slightly (maybe down one tenth of a rating point).

Last Resort premiered a touch above Charlie’s Angels — not exactly a hold-the-presses moment.  But it could very well hold its number instead of going into an Angels free fall.  The jury will be out a few more weeks on this one.

That’s one ugly night below.