“The Big Bang Theory” Returns to Big Ratings, But “Grey’s Anatomy” Wins Night

In addition to allowing CBS to build Wednesday around staple “Survivor,” moving “The Big Bang Theory” produced a ratings reward for Thursday as well.

“Big Bang,” which opened its fourth season at 8PM Thursday night, returned to a 4.8 adults 18-49 rating with 14.0 million viewers. While the figure is down a bit from some its Monday night marks last season, the performance was stellar and represented a great way to kick off CBS’ Thursday lineup. Lead-out “$#*! My Dad Says” also reaped the rewards, opening to a solid 3.9 with 12.5 million viewers.

Also on CBS: “CSI” (14.6 million, 3.4) and “The Mentalist” (15.1 million, 3.3).

But for all “Big Bang”‘s success as a new tentpole for CBS, the show could still not overcome “Grey’s Anatomy,” which opened to a 5.3 rating and an equivalent 14.0 million viewers. Though the “Grey’s” performance was strong and marks an uptick from what the show was doing last spring, it was down considerably from last season’s premiere.

“Private Practice” followed with a 3.3 and 9.0 million viewers.