Preliminary Ratings: Thursday 05/07/15

ABC and CBS split the Thursday night leadership, with CBS hauling in the most viewers and the best A25-54 rating, while ABC edged CBS for the A18-49 ratings. FOX was a distant third place, with a double-shot of BONES, topping NBC by a decent margin.

THE BIG BANG THEORY season finale was the nights most watched program of the night, along with posting the best ratings in the A18-49 and A25-54 demographics. It has been a long and winding road for BIG BANG as it started the season on Monday night, with NFL Football occupying the Thursday night schedule through October. Then after a move back to Thursdays, the series has regularly been used to fill gaps in the schedule with encore airings on both Monday and Thursday nights.

ABC's one-two punch of GREY'S ANATOMY and SCANDAL helped propel it to win the A18-49 crown, with a consistent 2.2 rating, over the entire two hours. AMERICAN CRIME's drop over over 50% in the demo, is the only reason CBS remained competitive in the category. Not sure why ABC decided to renew AMERICAN CRIME with such poor retention, out of the stronger shows of the network?

FOX just can't wait until the end of the horrible season. The aged BONES is doing the best it can, but it is no longer a motivator of getting viewers to the network. FOX should use BONES as a support series, to keep numbers up, while pared with a better show.

NBC was barely competitive on the night, dipping 18% behind fox in the A18-49 demo.  Wide margins like Thursday night, between it and CBS, gives CBS a real chance at taking that A18-49 season crown from NBC.

Preliminary L+SD Network Averages:

	Total viewers	A18-49	A25-54+
ABC	6.5 million	1.8	2.1
CBS	8.4 million	1.7	2.5
CW	1.2 million	0.5	0.5
FOX	4.6 million	1.1	1.4
NBC	5.0 million	0.9	1.3

Time	Net	Program	Viewers*	A18-49	A25-54
8:00	ABC	Grey's Anatomy	7.90	2.2	2.6
9:00	ABC	Scandal	7.40	2.2	2.6
10:00	ABC	American Crime	4.30	1.0	1.2
8:00	CBS	The Big Bang Theory (SF)	14.30	3.5	4.9
8:30	CBS	The Odd Couple	8.50	1.8	2.6
9:00	CBS	The Odd Couple	7.00	1.5	2.3
9:30	CBS	TBBT [R]	6.90	1.4	2.3
10:00	CBS	Elementary	6.90	1.1	1.8
8:00	CW	The Vampire Diaries	1.30	0.6	0.6
9:00	CW	Reign	1.00	0.3	0.4
8:00	FOX	Bones	4.70	1.1	1.4
9:00	FOX	Bones	4.40	1.1	1.4
8:00	NBC	Law & Order: SVU [R]	3.30	0.6	0.9
9:00	NBC	The Blacklist	6.70	1.4	1.9
10:00	NBC	Dateline	4.90	0.8	1.2

* - in millions