Thursday, September 27, 2012 ratings — Last night, we had the series premieres of Last Resort and Elementary, as well as the season debuts of The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Grey’s Anatomy, Person of Interest, and Scandal. There were also plenty of originals with The Next on The CW and NBC’s ailing line-up — Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update Thursday, Up All Night, The Office, Parks and Recreation, and Rock Center with Brian Williams. The Vampire Diaries returns October 10th.

On CBS, The Big Bang Theory returned to win the night in both the demo and viewers categories. It registered a 4.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 15.31 million total viewers. Year-to-year, it was down slightly in the demo (by 2%) but was up by 7% in viewers.

That was followed by the season premiere of Two and a Half Men in its new night and timeslot. Remember when Men was Big Bang’s lead-in on Mondays? Men drew a 3.5 demo rating and 12.37 million. That’s way down from last season’s opener but that was the mega-hyped introduction of Ashton Kutcher to the series. Compared to a year ago’s series premiere of (quickly cancelled) How to Be a Gentleman, the network was up by 30% in the demo (vs a 2.7 rating) and 38% in viewers (vs 8.98 million).

At 9pm, it was the season debut of Person of Interest with a 2.9 rating and 14.27 million. Compared to last fall’s series premiere, the network was down by 7% in the demo (vs a 3.1 rating) but up by 7% in viewers (vs 13.33 million). This was the show’s best performance since last April.

CBS finished the night with the series premiere of Elementary. It garnered a 3.1 rating with 13.29 million. It was a positive performance for the new series, particularly in viewership. The demo could have been stronger — especially considering the fairly lackluster competition (Scandal on ABC and Rock Center with Brian Williams on NBC). Compared to the season premiere of The Mentalist a year ago, CBS was up by 11% in the demo (vs a 2.8 rating) and was down by 2% in viewers (vs 13.56 million).

On FOX, The X Factor attracted a second-place 3.2 demo rating with 9.19 million viewers. It was down by 9% in both the demo and viewers.

Glee followed at 9pm and that attracted a 2.5 demo rating and 5.93 million. That was down by 14% week-to-week in the demo. Yet another decline.

On ABC, we had the series premiere of action series Last Resort. It debuted to a 2.2 rating with 9.08 million viewers. That was not exactly a positive start for the new series. It was a distant third in its timeslot in the demo and a close third in viewers. Year-to-year, the network was up slightly but that’s not all that encouraging when you consider ABC was airing the big bomb known as Charlie’s Angels. Not a good start for Last Resort.

At 9pm, it was the season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy. This show won its timeslot in the demo with an impressive 4.3 rating and 11.55 million viewers. Year-to-year, that was up by 5% in the demo (vs a 4.1 rating) and 11% in viewers (vs 10.38 million). This show knows how to do cliffhangers but how many of those viewers will return next week?

Then, at 10pm, it was the second season debut of Scandal. The drama drew a 2.2 in the demo with 7.01 million, a distant second place in the timeslot. Compared to last year’s Private Practice premiere, ABC was down by 21% in the demo (vs a 2.8 rating) and down by 10% in viewers.

On NBC, we had the usual comedy line-up. Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update Thursday drew a 1.7 in the demo and 5.43 million viewers, up slightly from last week. Up All Night rose by 38% in the demo to a still sad 1.8 rating and 4.46 million.

At 9pm, The Office garnered a 2.4 in the demo with 5.23 million, up 14% from last week. It was followed by Parks and Recreation with a 2.1 rating and 4.46 million, up 24% in the demo.

The night was finished with Rock Center with Brian Williams. That attracted a dismal 1.2 demo rating with 4.17 million viewers. It was up by 9% in the demo.

And finally, on The CW, a repeat of The Vampire Diaries brought a 0.3 demo rating with 0.77 million viewers. An original episode of The Next followed with 0.3 rating and 0.68 million viewers. It was down by 33% in the demo but flat in viewers.

Remember that these numbers are based on Nielsen’s fast affiliate ratings and may change greatly when the final numbers come in. Those will be posted to the individual show pages when they become available.

What do you think? What do you think of the two series premieres last night? How did your favorite shows perform? What were you watching last night?