The premiere of the revived “Last Comic Standing” had NBC laughing its way to a ratings victory on Thursday, a generally low-rated night.
NBC was first in the advertiser-sought 18-49 demographic with a 1.5 rating/5 share and second in total viewers with 4.9 million, according to preliminary numbers. “Hollywood Game Night” at 8 p.m. drew even with last week for a 1.1/4 and took 3.9 million total viewers. The premiere of “Last Comic Standing” at 9 had a 1.7/5 — down 15 percent from its most recent premiere in 2010 and a premiere low for the series, but enough to win its 9 to 11 p.m. timeslot. The show more than doubled the network’s average for the timeslot last summer. The “Last Comic Standing” premiere drew 5.4 million total viewers.
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Despite running mostly repeats, CBS was second in ratings with a 1.3/4 and first in total viewers with 5.8 million. Its sole original programming Thursday night, “Bad Teacher” at 9:30, slid 21 percent to a series low of 1.1/4 and drew 4.4 million total viewers.
Fox tied Univision for third in the demo with a 1.2/4 and was third outright in total viewers with 3.6 million. “Hell’s Kitchen” at 8 dropped off 12 percent from last week for a 1.5/6 and drew 4.2 million total viewers, while the series premiere “Gang Related” the following hour had a 0.9/3 and took 3 million total viewers.
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ABC, which went heavy on repeats, drew fifth place in ratings and fourth in total viewers with a 0.7/2 and 3 million. Its only new programming for the night, “Black Box” at 10, fell 27 percent to a 0.8/3, a low for the series, and had 3.7 million total viewers.
Telemundo was sixth in ratings with a 0.5/2 and seventh in total viewers with 1.2 million, while The CW, which aired the film “Labyrinth,” averaged a 0.4/1 with 1.3 million total viewers.