Continuing our hour by hour coverage of the fall schedule, we move to Thursday nights at 9pm. Newcomers Nikita & Outsourced join the veterans CSI, Fringe, Grey's Anatomy and The Office
Thursday Night 9pm-10pm:
| THURSDAY | 9:00p | 9:30p |
 |
Grey's Anatomy | |
 |
CSI | |
 |
Nikita New | |
 |
Fringe | |
 |
The Office | Outsourced New |
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Any ratings discussion below is in reference to adults 18-49 ratings, and not total viewers.
Who'll Win? Other than the new shows, it's the exact same schedule as last year. Despite languishing ratings performance from both Grey's Anatomy & CSI, Grey's typically won the hour easily and there's no reason to expect things will be much different in the fall.
CBS & NBC battled for second place with NBC typically holding a small edge for the hour late in the season. Whether that's the case in the fall depends on how Outsourced does and whether $#*! My Dad Says helps, hurts or is neutral as a lead-in for CSI. It will be interesting to see how Justin Bieber's turn as a guest star helps with CSI's demos though. Before anyone scoffs, remember when Taylor Swift was on CSI she boosted the 18-49 numbers by a full ratings point vs. the previous week (and added ~4 million viewers).
I got an e-mail asking whether I thought Nikita will beat Fringe. No, I don't. Fringe will still finish fourth for the hour, but I won't be surprised, especially early on, if Nikita improves the hour for CW versus Supernatural.
Next Thursday (September 2) I’ll cover Thursday from 10pm-11pm. On Friday, August 27 I’ll cover Fridays at 10pm. You can find all the previous hour-by-hour coverage here.
