American Idol tops Thursday ratings

American Idol topped the ratings for Thursday evening while NBC benefited from the absence of CBS comedies at 8pm.

At 8pm American Idol, on Fox, drew 15.5 million viewers scoring a 4.5 18-49 rating for a one-hour outing of the series. Community on NBC pulled in 4.8 million viewers with a 2.2 rating followed by 30 Rock with 4 million viewers and a 2.0 18-49 rating. The season premier of Missing on ABC had 10.5 million viewers with a 2.0 18-49 rating – Charlie’s Angels launched with a slightly higher 2.1 rating but was quickly dispatched by ABC when ratings kept on falling. Elsewhere at 8pm supernatural drama The Vampire Diaries, starring Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley, returned for new episodes after another short absence. The episode, 1912, was seen by 2.6 million viewers with a 1.2 18-49 rating.

At 9pm medical drama Grey’s Anatomy on ABC attracted 9.6 million viewers with a 3.0 rating while witchy drama The Secret Circle on The CW had 1.6 million viewers with a 0.7 rating. The Office on NBC had 4.8 million viewers with a 2.3 rating followed by Up All Night with 3.6 million viewers and a 1.7 rating. Touch on Fox drew 8.6 million viewers with a 2.2 rating.

At 10pm Private Practice was seen by 7 million viewers with a 2.2 rating while Awake on NBC had 5 million viewers with a 1.6 rating.