ABC's 'Private Practice' Leads 10pm Time Slot

Up against stiff competition from the opening hour of Fox's The X Factor and CBS' The Big Bang Theory into the debut of How to be a Gentleman from 8-9pm, Charlie's Angels continued to post substantial time period improvement for ABC and outdraw established comedies on NBC. In the hour, the new ABC drama topped NBC's comedy block by 2.9 million viewers (Community/Parks and Recreation). Against the strong competition on Fox and CBS, Charlie's Angels saw its numbers build from its first half-hour to its second half-hour among viewers (+7%) and young adults (+23%).

Opposite heightened competition in the hour year to year, Charlie's Angels boosted its time period for ABC by 3.4 million viewers and by 36% in Adults 18-49 over the year-ago night.

Surging from its lead-in (+133%) against the second hour of The X Factor, ABC's Grey's Anatomy once again finished as Thursday's dominant #1 drama in Adults 18-49. Leading its scripted competition in the 9 o'clock hour by wide margins, Grey's defeated NBC's comedies (The Office/Whitney) by 21% and CBS' Person of Interest by 30%.

Moving to the top of the 10 o'clock hour among Adults 18-49, ABC's 5th season opener of Private Practice beat out CBS' The Mentalist by 12% and NBC's Prime Suspect by 87%. Private Practice also led its drama competition in the hour by sizeable margins with Adults 18-34 and across all key Women demos (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54).

Topping its season finale in May with viewers (+5%) and young adults (+12%), ABC's Private Practice drew its biggest audience since March and hit its top Adult 18-49 number since early December - since 3/24/11 and 12/2/10, respectively.