TV ratings: 'American Idol' leads FOX to a big win Thursday

"The Big Bang Theory" has been on a ratings tear as of late -- could it keep that up once "American Idol" came back on FOX? The answer is we don't yet know, since "Big Bang" was a rerun the first night it was up against "Idol."

The CBS reruns gave FOX a big win, nearly doubling the Eye's totals. It'll be interesting to see how each network fares when they are both showing new programming.

FOX earned 16.2 million viewers and a 9.2 rating/14 share in households for first place. CBS' reruns came in second with 8.98 million viewers and a 5.7/9. ABC was next at 7.2 million, 4.8/8, NBC was fourth at 3.89 million and a 2.5/4 and the CW was fifth at 2.03 million, 1.3/2.

In the adults 18-49 demo, FOX crushed the other networks with a 5.6, followed by ABC (2.2), CBS (1.9), NBC (1.5) and the CW (0.9).
 

Thursday hour by hour:

8 p.m.


FOX: "American Idol" (15.8 million, 9.0/14)
CBS: "The Big Bang Theory" rerun (11.9 million viewers, 7.4/12 households)/"Two and a Half Men" rerun (9.1 million, 5/7/9)
ABC: "Last Resort" (5.0 million, 3.2/5)
NBC: "30 Rock" (3.5 million, 2.3/4)/"Parks and Rec" (3.9 million, 2.3/4)
The CW: "The Vampire Diaries" (2.9 million, 1.8/3)

18-49 leader: "American Idol" (5.4)

9 p.m.

FOX: "American Idol" (16.5 million, 9.5/14)
CBS: "Person of Interest" rerun (9.4 million, 5.8/9)
ABC: "Grey's Anatomy" (8.7 million, 5.8/9)
NBC: "The Office" (4.2 million, 2.5/4)/"1600 Penn" (3.0 million, 2.0/3)
The CW: "The Carrie Diaries" rerun (1.2 million, 0.8/1)

18-49 leader: "American Idol" (5.8)

10 p.m.

ABC: "Scandal" (7.9 million, 5.4/9)
CBS: "Elementary" rerun (7.0 million, 4.6/8)
NBC: "Rock Center with Brian Williams" (4.4 million, 3.0/5)

18-49 leader: "Scandal" (2.6)

Ratings information includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change. Source: The Nielsen Company.

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