Ratings: ER Serves Up Most-Watched Drama Finale Since 1996
CheERs!
Thursday's ratings recap:
8 pm/ET
Survivor returned with a season-low 11.2 million total viewers, thanks in part to NBC's ER retrospective, which drew 10.56 mil. Bones placed third with 9 mil, a dip of 570K from its previous outing.
ABC's comedies were not laughing, as both In the Motherhood (5 mil) and Samantha Who? (4.8 mil) plunged 26 percent. Smallville (3.8 mil) saw a 50K uptick.
9 pm
ER's two-hour (and rather awesome) series finale was the night's most-watched program, averaging 16.2 million viewers and even flirting with 18 mil at the 10 0'clock mark. That tally represents the largest audience for the final episode of a drama series since Murder, She Wrote circa 1996. (Be sure to check out Trish's fantastic recap of the ER ender.)
CSI's William Friedkin-directed 200th episode placed second at 9 pm, drawing a season low of 14.38 mil. Facing stiff competition, Hell's Kitchen (7 mil) saw one-third of its audience get flambéed. Supernatural gained 110 thou, hitting 3.28 mil.
10 pm
Placing second behind ER, Eleventh Hour returned to an audience of 10.38 mil, down 12 percent from its last fresh episode.
