FOX was competitive with CBS for the entirety of the 8PM hour Thursday, but the first half-hour definitively belonged to the latter.
“The Big Bang Theory” convincingly topped “American Idol” from 8-8:30PM, delivering a 5.3 adults 18-49 against the 4.1 for “Idol.” The former also won in total viewers, besting “Idol”‘s 12.84 million with an impressive 17.51 million pairs of eyeballs.
The intensified competition did impact “Big Bang,” however. Thursday’s audience was down significantly from the series high numbers posted by the last original episode.
“Idol” moved into the lead at 8:30PM, delivering a 4.8 rating with 14.61 million. “Two and a Half Men” scored a 3.9 with 13.72 million.
— With reduced lead-in support, “Glee” turned last week’s audience increase. The fourth-season comedy scored a 2.1 rating with 5.54 million viewers.
