Preliminary Ratings: Thursday 01/07/2016

For the second night in a row, AMERICAN IDOL pushes FOX to the #1 spot, drawing 10 million viewers and a 2.7 rating in Adults 18-49. The Thursday numbers are down about 10% from the previous night's season premiere, but still strong enough to win the night.

CBS took second on the night, with all new episodes for all five series. The series premiere of ANGEL FROM HELL did OK in its debut, dropping about 10% from its lead in. Being on the back end of the comedy block did not help launch the new comedy. A one-time post-BIG BANG slot would have been helpful to get a bigger sampling. Also on CBS, THE BIG BANG THEORY was the #1 show of the evening, with 15.7 million viewers and a 3.8 demo rating. The rest of the night followed it usual decline by the half hour.

NBC had a relatively decent night, thanks to a strong series premiere by SHADES OF BLUE. The new crime drama grew 16% out of THE BLACKLIST, in total viewers, and near 25% in the A18-49 demographic. It is easily the best performance by a series, in the time slot, which SHADES OF BLUE won. We'll see next week if those viewers enjoyed or hated what they saw last night.

ABC did not have a good night. BEYOND THE TANK does not have the drawing power its parent series, SHARK TANK has, and the new reality series, MY DIET IS BETTER THAN YOURS is pretty much DOA. MY DIET was the lowest rated original program on the night.

Preliminary L+SD Network Averages:

	Total viewers	A18-34	A18-49	A25-54
ABC	3.00 million	0.5	0.9	1.0
CBS	9.20 million	1.1	2.0	2.9
CW	0.60 million	0.2	0.2	0.2
FOX	10.00 million	1.9	2.7	3.5
NBC	6.60 million	0.9	1.5	2.0

Time	Net	Program	Viewers*	A18-34	A18-49	A25-54
8:00	ABC	Beyond The Tank	4.30	0.6	1.0	1.3
9:00	ABC	My Diet is Better Than Yours (SP)	2.40	0.5	0.9	0.9
8:00	CBS	The Big Bang Theory	15.70	2.3	3.8	5.4
8:30	CBS	Life In Pieces	9.40	1.2	2.2	3.1
9:00	CBS	Mom	8.80	0.9	1.8	2.8
9:30	CBS	Angel From Hell (SP)	8.00	0.8	1.6	2.4
10:00	CBS	Elementary	6.70	0.6	1.2	1.8
8:00	CW	The Vampire Diaries [R]	0.70	0.2	0.2	0.3
9:00	CW	The Originals [R]	0.50	0.1	0.2	0.2
8:00	FOX	American Idol	10.00	1.9	2.7	3.5
8:00	NBC	Heroes Reborn	3.70	0.6	1.0	1.3
9:00	NBC	The Blacklist	7.40	0.9	1.6	2.1
10:00	NBC	Shades of Blue (SP)	8.60	1.1	1.8	2.5

* - in millions