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CBS comedy “The Big Bang Theory” has been beating Fox’s “American Idol” head to head on Thursdays regularly this season, and this week skedmate “Two and a Half Men” achieved the feat as well for the first time.
According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, “The Big Bang Theory” averaged a huge 5.4 rating/16 share in adults 18-49 and 17.4 million viewers overall to crush “American Idol” (3.0 demo score in the half-hour) and stand as easily Thursday’s No. 1 show. “Bang” was followed by “Two and a Half Men” (3.9/11 in 18-49, 13.6 million viewers overall), which beat “Idol” in 18-49 (3.9 to 3.5) and was Thursday’s No. 2 program in 18-49 and 25-54 (5.2/13).
Both comedies were in line with their most recent originals of two weeks ago.
“Person of Interest” (2.8/8 in 18-49, 14.4 million viewers overall) was on the low side of its range, perhaps dented by the expanded “American Idol,” but still won its 9 p.m. hour in adults 25-54 (4.1/10) and total viewers. And a repeat “Elementary” (1.6/5 in 18-49, 8.7 million viewers overall) closed out the night.
At Fox, an expanded “American Idol” averaged a 3.5/10 in 18-49 and 12.9 million viewers overall from 8 to 9:30 p.m., peaking with a 3.9/11 in the 9 o’clock half-hour, which it won across the board; the music contest was down a little from last Thursday. “Glee,” which aired from 9:30 to 10:30 p.m., perked up to a timeslot-leading 2.5/7 in 18-49 and 7.1 million viewers overall with its first original episode in three weeks. Its most recent firstrun episode did a low 1.7 in the demo on Valentine’s Day.
NBC had good news kicking off the night, with “Community” (1.5/5 in 18-49, 3.4 million viewers overall) spiking 25% (0.3) week to week and tying Fox’s “Idol” in men 18-34 (1.7/6). The rest of Thursday was uneventful, though, with repeats of “Parks and Recreation” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 2.3 million viewers overall) and “The Office” (1.1/3 in 18-49, 2.4 million viewers overall), an original “1600 Penn” (0.9/2 in 18-49, 2.2 million viewers overall) and an encore “Law & Order: SVU” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 3.9 million viewers overall). New drama “Hannibal” takes over the 10 p.m. slot on April 4.
ABC aired all repeats, with a special “Shark Tank” (1.2/3 in 18-49, 4.4 million viewers overall) followed by “Grey’s Anatomy” (1.1/3 in 18-49, 3.7 million viewers overall) and “Scandal” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 3.7 million viewers overall).
And CW went with rebroadcasts of “The Vampire Diaries” (0.4/1 in 18-49, 1.1 million viewers overall) and “Beauty and the Beast” (0.3/1 in 18-49, 0.8 million viewers overall).
Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 3.1/9; CBS, 3.0/9; ABC and NBC, 1.1/3; CW, 0.3/1.
In total viewers: CBS, 12.9 million; Fox, 10.6 million; ABC, 3.9 million; NBC, 3.0 million; CW, 0.9 million.
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