Primetime Ratings: '30 Rock' Ends on Season High; 'Do No Harm' Premiere Flatlines

CBS' comedy duo nips Fox's 'Idol' at 8 p.m. while NBC drama is worst scripted debut ever on Big Four

By Tim Baysinger -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/1/2013 11:30:37 AM

The one hour series finale of NBC comedy 30 Rock drew a season-best 1.9 rating with adults 18-49 on Thursday, up 36% over last week. The series ender also drew its best overall viewership in two years with 4.79 million total viewers.

The 10 p.m. debut of new drama Do No Harm meanwhile struggled to just a 0.9, the lowest-rated in-season scripted premiere on a Big 4 network ever, beating out The Firm's 1.4 rating last season. It was also only a tenth higher than what newsmag Rock Center drew in the time slot last week (and a tenth below the time slot's season average).

Pre-empting 1600 Penn in an effort to give Do No Harm a stronger lead-in, The Office aired back-to-back new episodes during the 9 p.m. hour, with the first up a tenth to a 2.1 and the second slipping slightly to a 1.9. NBC finished in fourth place for the night with an overall 1.6 rating/4 share.

CBS returned its Thursday lineup from a few weeks off to finish just ahead of Fox for first with a 3.4/9. The Big Bang Theory was down 17% to a 5.3 and Two and a Half Men fell 7% to a 3.9. The duo was still able to best Fox's American Idol head-to-head with both 18-49s (4.6-4.5) and total viewers (15.6 million - 13.7 million). Person of Interest returned down a tenth to a 3.2 and Elementary was off by two tenths from its last episode for a 2.2.

The 4.5 rating for American Idol was down 13% from last week. Glee also dropped from last week by 19% to a 2.1. Fox took second with a 3.3/9.

ABC took third with a 2.2/6. Grey's Anatomy tied its series-low 2.8 rating, down 7% from last week while Scandal improved 4% to a 2.7.

The CW rounded out the evening with a 1.0/3. The Vampire Diaries was even with noth 18-49s at 1.3 and 18-34s at 1.4. Beauty and the Beast was even as well with 18-49s at 0.7 and down a tenth to a 0.6 with 18-34s.