A streak of underwhelming ratings for ABC’s veteran “Grey’s Anatomy” has been a relevant Thursday television story this season, but ratings for this week’s episode reveal that special segments can still attract viewers.
A musical episode of “Grey’s” increased the show’s performance to a strong 4.8 adults 18-49 rating with 12.72 million viewers. That made “Grey’s” the clear number two performer for the evening, behind only FOX’s powerhouse “American Idol” (6.7 rating, 22.02 million viewers).
As far as Thursday heavy-hitters are concerned, CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory” was not as successful. A returning new episode only garnered a 3.6 adults 18-49 rating with 11.70 million viewers. Though perfectly acceptable against a show like “American Idol,” those numbers are those of a solid performer rather than of a major network flagship.