Ratings: CBS Comedies Fall, Bones and Fringe Improve Slightly

CBS' comedy block stumbled Thursday night, but the network will still ruled the night, according to overnight Nielsen estimates.

The Big Bang Theory(12.5 million viewers) and S#*! My Dad Says(9.8 million viewers) were down 9 percent and 15 percent in the adults-18-to-49 demographic, respectively. CBS still won the night overall with CSI (12.3 million viewers), which fell 13 percent in the demo to a series low, and The Mentalist(14.3 million viewers), which was the night's most-watched program.

NBC's comedies were also down, as was most of network TV because of heavy competition from the second night of Major League baseball playoffs on TBS.  Community(4.3 million viewers) and Outsourced(5.2 million viewers) were both down 11 percent in the demo versus the previous week. The Office(6.9 million viewers) fell only 8 percent, while 30 Rock(4.9 million viewers) was down 19 percent. NBC ended the night with The Apprentice, which held steady in the demo, but drew only 3.8 million viewers.

NBC placed third behind ABC, which had the highest-rated program of the night in the demo with Grey's Anatomy(12.5 million viewers). It followed a Grey's repeat (4.2 million viewers), which performed the same as My Generationdid the previous week, and was followed by Private Practice, which drew 8.1 million viewers.

Fox placed fourth, but both of its dramas — Bones(9.1 million viewers) and Fringe(5.2 million viewers) — showed slight gains in the demo. Also improving just a bit in the demo were The CW's The Vampire Diaries(3.5 million viewers) and Nikita(3 million viewers).