CBS's "The Big Bang Theory" and "Two and a Half Men" stayed strong against added competition from NBC's "The Voice" Thursday to handily win the night for CBS, according to preliminary numbers.
"Big Bang" matched its largest audience ever and equaled its season-high rating in the key 18-49 demographic as "Two and a Half Men" delivered its largest audience of the season while matching its highest demo rating of the season. "The Voice," meanwhile, tied its lowest rating ever.
Also read: 'Voice' Beats 'X Factor' in Head-to-Head Competition
The election scrambled NBC's lineup this week, shifting "The Voice" results show to Thursday and staging an 8 p.m. contest between CBS's biggest sitcoms, NBC's biggest show besides football, and Fox's "X Factor." Also airing in the 8 p.m. hour was ABC's struggling "Last Resort."
CBS easily won the night with a 3.2 rating/9 share in the key demo. It was also the most-watched network with 13.6 million total viewers. At 8, "The Big Bang Theory" slipped just 4 percent in the ratings against the added competition from the "The Voice." It scored a 5.0/15 and 16.5 million total viewers. "Two and a Half Men" managed to improve on its last episode, rising 11 percent in the ratings to a 4.0/11. It had and 14.1 million total viewers. "Big Bang" was the top-rated and most-watched show of the night, and "Men" was the second-highest-rated and third-most-watched show.
At 9, "Person of Interest" had a 2.9/7 and 14.7 million, making it the fifth-highest-rated but second most-watched show of the night. At 10, "Elementary" had a 2.2/6 and 10.7 million.
Fox was second in the ratings and fourth in total viewers with a 2.4/6 and 6 million total viewers. At 8, "X Factor" had a 2.3/6 and 6.3 million. At 9, "Glee" had a 2.4/6 and 5.7 million.
ABC was third in ratings and second in total viewers with a 2.2/6 and 7.1 million. "The Last Resort" at 8 had a 1.4/4 and 6 million, while "Grey's Anatomy" at 9 had a 3.2/8 — making it the night's third-highest-rated show — and 9.2 million. At 10, "Scandal" had a 2.0/5 and 6.1 million.
NBC was fourth in ratings and third in total viewers with 2.1/6 and 6 million. "The Voice" had a 3.0/9 and 9.1 million total viewers. At 9, "The Office" had a 2.5/7 and 5.3 million. "Parks and recreation" at 9:30 had a 1.8/5 and 3.8 million, and "Rock Center" at 10 had a 1.1/3 and 4.4 million.
More to come…