Ratings Drops For “Jay Leno Show,” “Vampire Diaries” as “Office,” “Parks” Premiere

After making an unexpected ratings bounce Wednesday, “The Jay Leno Show” dipped to its lowest figure to date Thursday.

With a much less ideal lead-in than Wednesday’s “America’s Got Talent” finale, “Leno” slid to a 2.5/8 rating in adults 18-49 with 8.3 million total viewers. It did a 5.5 household rating, down from Wednesday’s 8.4.

The rest of NBC’s night was devoted to premieres. Neither “Weekend Update Thursday” (5.7 million, 2.0 in adults 18-49) nor “Parks & Recreation” (5 million, 2.1 in adults 18-49) did anything spectacular at 8PM. “The Office”‘s season six kickoff led the night in adults 18-49, but its demographic number and total viewership was down notably from last year (4.0 vs. 4.9, 8.1 million vs. 9.3 million).

NBC’s “Community” got off to a decent start with 7.7 million viewers and a 3.7 in adults 18-49, although being a debuting show with “The Office” as an immediate lead-in is never a bad thing from a premiere ratings perspective. Eyes will definitely be on the acclaimed comedy in the next few weeks.

“Bones” (10.1 million, 3.0 in adults 18-49) and “Fringe” (8 million, 2.9 in adults 18-49) launched FOX’s new Thursday lineup with decent numbers, while “Survivor: Samoa” kicked off with 11.5 million total viewers and a 3.5 in adults 18-49.

— Potentially bad news came over on “The CW” as “The Vampire Diaries” dropped sharply from its record-breaking premiere. Still, with a 1.6 in adults 18-49 and 3.8 million total viewers, the show more than outperformed buzzed-about CW series like “Gossip Girl,” “90210” and “Melrose Place.”

Nonetheless, while few expected the show to retain its entire premiere viewership in week two, the big drop is still cause for concern, as it means that the show, from a creative standpoint, did not sufficiently excite many of the curious opening week viewers.