Thursday TV Ratings Bring Few Surprises

On a night when other shows held even with previous weeks or had trouble picking up any steam at all, CBS was the winner when it came to Thursday night ratings.

Airing its first post-NFL Thursday night programming, ratings held strong, with Young Sheldon (13.3 mil/2.4) making its timeslot debut. While the measurements are down significantly from the series September premiere, which earned a 5.5 rating among adults in the 18-49 key demo and was watched by 22.5 million viewers, it managed to retain a significant amount of its premiere audience and set the bar high for every other Thursday night show.

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The season premiere of Mom (9.6 mil/1.8), the season 3 premiere of Life in Pieces (7.7 mil/1.5), and S.W.A.T. (7.5 mil/1.3) also brought strong ratings for the network.

Thursday night's runner-up was once again ABC, whose TGIT – Grey's Anatomy (7.3 mil/1.8), Scandal (4.9 mil/1.1) and How to Get Away with Murder (3.6 mil/0.9) - is still a force to be reckoned with.

NBC's Superstore (3.5 mil/1.0), Chicago Fire (5.8 mil/1.0), Great News (2.7 mil/0.7), and Will and Grace (5.6 mil/1.5) were all down in measures.

Gotham (2.7 mil/0.9) held even for Fox, but The Orville (3.8 mil/1.0) fell two-tenths.

On the CW, Supernatural (1.8 mil/0.6) and Arrow (1.4 mil/0.5) both held even.