Fast National ratings for Thursday, January 1, 2015.
The most popular comedy of 2014 was also the most popular show on the first night of 2015, as a repeat of “The Big Bang Theory” was Thursday's top show in all measures, kicking off CBS' comfortable primetime sweep against mostly repeat competition.
The competition wasn't all repeats, of course, though NBC drew no interest for fresh episodes of the already cancelled “Bad Judge” and “A to Z,” nor did ABC's “The Taste” find any traction.
“A to Z,” in fact, drew only 1.3 million viewers and a 0.4 key demo rating. We'll have to wait to see if another network will declare this the lowest rated in-season rating ever for a network series.
Of course, ESPN's coverage of the Sugar Bowl is likely to have been Thursday's real ratings champion, but those numbers won't be available until later.
On to Thursday's ratings…
Among adults 18-49, CBS averaged a 1.0 rating for Thursday night, tops in the key demographic. ABC, NBC and FOX all averaged a 0.6 rating in the key demo, while The CW had a 0.3 key demo rating for Thursday primetime.
Overall, CBS averaged an estimated 5.27 million viewers and a 3.3 rating/5 share for Thursday night. FOX was a distant second with 2.81 million viewers and a 1.8/3, edging out the 2.5 million viewers and 1.7/3 for ABC for the night. NBC was fourth for the night with 2.21 million viewers and a 1.4/2, followed by The CW's 1.05 million viewers and 0.6/1.
8 p.m. – Repeats of “The Big Bang Theory” (8.1 million and a 1.7 key demo) and “Mom” (6.43 million and a 1.2 key demo) were Thursday's top two shows and won the 8 p.m. hour for CBS. NBC's “The Biggest Loser” was second with 3.49 million viewers and a 0.9 key demo rating, topping the 2.82 million viewers and 0.6 key demo rating for FOX's “Bones” repeat. A new “The Taste” averaged 2.74 million viewers for fourth and a 0.7 key demo rating for third for ABC. The second night of The CW's IHeartRadio Festival averaged 955,000 viewers and a 0.3 key demo rating.
9 p.m. – CBS remained in first for the 9 p.m. hour with repeats of “Two and a Half Men” (5 million and a 0.9 key demo rating) and “The McCarthys” (3.92 million and a 0.7 key demo rating). A second “Bones” repeat was steady with 2.81 million viewers and a 0.6 key demo rating for FOX, compared to the 2.63 million viewers and 0.7 key demo rating for ABC's “The Taste.” NBC was fourth with new episodes of “Bad Judge” (2.09 million and a 0.5 key demo) and “A to Z” (1.32 million and a 0.4 key demo rating). The CW's IHeartRadio thing averaged 1.145 million viewers and a 0.4 key demo rating for The CW.
10 p.m. – An “Elementary” repeat averaged 4.07 million viewers and a 0.6 rating among adults 18-49, which was enough to win the 10 p.m. hour for CBS. ABC's “How To Get Away With Murder” repeat averaged 2.12 million viewers and a 0.5 key demo rating, which edged out the 1.43 million viewers and 0.4 key demo rating for NBC's “Parenthood” repeat.
All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change.