Nothing "Ugly" About Thursday

Ugly Betty was pretty big. Grey's Anatomy was even bigger. CSI was the biggest.

And so it goes on Thursday--a night with plenty of prime-time viewers to go around.

At 8 p.m., ABC's much hyped Ugly Betty debuted before 16.3 million, per Nielsen Media Research stats. It scored more viewers than any other new show premiere to date and ran second in the hour to CBS' desegregated Survivor: Cook Islands in total viewers (16.9 million) and totally desirable 18-to-49-year-old ones.

At 9 p.m., CBS' CSI, beaten last week by ABC's Grey's Anatomy, returned to beat the dithering-doctor series, if ever so narrowly, 23.8 million viewers to 23.5 million.

All told, CSI took honors as the most watched show of TV's most-watched night.

The story of the night, however, was Matlock.

The last time ABC averaged 16.3 million people during the 8 p.m., Thursday hour, Andy Griffith roamed prime time as country lawyer Ben Matlock. In other words, the last time was a long time ago.

Specifically, according to the network, Ugly Betty posted ABC's best numbers for a scripted show in the time slot since a Matlock in April 1995.

Based on its premiere, Ugly Betty has a shot at becoming ABC's first non-dancing, non-gaming hit at 8 p.m. on Thursday since Robin Williams roamed prime time as outer-space alien Mork--or, in other words, since a really, really long time ago.

ABC has not had a drama or comedy series survive any portion of the 8 p.m. Thursday hour for more than one full season since Mork & Mindy pulled off the trick in 1980-81 and 1981-82. Even Matlock was canceled there. Other casualties of the time slot include My So-Called Life and Alias.

Executive produced by Salma Hayek and blessed by Oprah Winfrey, who featured the show on her show this week, Ugly Betty is an hourlong comedy based on a popular Colombian telenovela. Ratings-wise, it's a part of a network plan that, so far, is working.

Thanks to Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy, ABC was the highest-rated network Thursday in the sacred 18-to-49 demo--the second straight week it's claimed such a victory. To recap the historical perspective of these feats: Not since nearly forever.

CBS remained the most watched network on the night, but the increased competition from ABC is considerable. Last season, CBS owned Thursday with Survivor, CSI and Without a Trace; ABC, for its part, detonated two bombs there, Night Stalker and the gassed Alias.

This season, Survivor's down, CSI is down and newcomer Shark is way down from Without a Trace. Over on ABC, Ugly Betty's premiere audience was 130 percent bigger than Night Stalker's; Grey's Anatomy's was 210 percent bigger than Alias'.

At least CBS has Six Degrees to kick around...

The new drama continues to hemorrhage viewers for ABC. One week after losing 50 percent of its Grey's Anatomy lead-in, Six Degrees lost 56 percent. Airing in the 10 p.m., Thursday slot, Six Degrees was third in the sluggish middleweight battle between it, Shark (14.6 million) and NBC's ER (estimated 14.3 million, per Variety).

Fortunately for Six Degrees, ABC used to be pitiful at 10 p.m., Thursday, too. Last year, the newsmagazine Primetime averaged only 7.2 million viewers there, making JJ Abrams' latest series seem hit-esque by comparison.

Elsewhere on Thursday, Smallville (5 million) and Supernatural (3.9 million) began their CW runs, and, like nearly every other old WB show debuting on the new network, suffered double-digit audience declines from last season's premieres. Only One Tree Hill was a semblance of its former WB self, with 3.4 million viewers for the CW on Wednesday.