The Season 21 premiere of “Law & Order” tied its spinoff “Law & Order: SVU” as primetime’s highest-rated show among adults 18-49 on Thursday night. Neither was the most-watched show overall, though: CBS’ “Young Sheldon” earned that title with 6.8 million viewers.
NBC was Thursday’s highest-rated broadcast network, with a 0.6 average, according to preliminary numbers; CBS was No. 1 in total viewers with an average of 5 million.
NBC came in second in total viewers with 4.7 million. ABC was second in ratings with 0.5.
On NBC, the Season 21 premiere of “Law & Order” at 8 p.m. scored a 0.7 rating and 5.5 million total viewers at 8. Then at 9, “Law & Order: SVU” drew a 0.7 rating and 5 million viewers. “Law & Order: Organized Crime” had a 0.5 rating and 3.4 million viewers at 10.
ABC was third in total viewers with 3.9 million. “Station 19” at 8 earned a 0.7 rating and 4.8 million viewers. Then, “Grey’s Anatomy” had a 0.7 rating and 4.4 million viewers at 9. Finally, “Big Sky” got a 0.3 rating and 2.5 million viewers at 10.
CBS came in third in ratings with a 0.4. “Young Sheldon” earned a 0.6 rating and 6.8 million total viewers at 8 p.m. At 8:30, “United States of Al” got a 0.4 rating and 4.9 million viewers. “Ghosts” received a 0.5 rating and 5.6 million viewers at 9, and “B Positive” had a 0.4 rating and 4.4 million total viewers at 9:30. At 10, Bull brought in a rating of 0.4 and 4.3 million viewers.
Fox was fourth in ratings with a 0.2 and in total viewers with 1.2 million. “Joe Millionaire” had a 0.3 rating and 1.4 million viewers at 8. At 9, “Call Me Kat” got a 0.2 rating and 1.3 million viewers. “Pivoting” received a 0.2 rating and 786,000 viewers at 9:30.
The CW was fifth in ratings with a 0.1 and in total viewers with 390,000. A rerun of “Walker” at 8 had a 0.1 rating and 489,000 viewers. At 9, “Legacies” got a 0.1 rating and 291,000 total viewers.
We do not have early Nielsen numbers for Spanish-language broadcast networks Univision and Telemundo.