Thursday Night Spin

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. April 10, 2009 The series debuts last night of "Southland" and "Parks and Recreation" joined forces with NBC's established Thursday comedy hits "The Office" and "30 Rock" to propel the network to a tie for #1 in primetime's key demographic of adults 18-49 and an outright win in adults, men and women 18-34, according to "fast affiliate-based" "live plus same day" viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research.

Last night from 10-11 p.m. ET, the series debut of "Southland" (3.2 rating, 9 share in adults 18-49, 9.7 million viewers overall) won the hour in adults 18-49, adults 18-34, adults 25-54 and nearly every key demographic, topping the series debut of CBS's "Harper's Island" and ABC's "Private Practice" encore. The "Southland" margin of victory was 19 percent in adults 18-49 (3.2 vs. 2.7 for "Harper's Island") and 63 percent in adults 18-34 (2.6 vs. 1.6 for "Harper's"), pending updates.

"Southland" increased from half-hour to half-hour by 6 percent in both 18-49 rating (to a 3.3/10 from a 3.1/9) and in total viewers (to 10.0 million from 9.4 million), while the drama competition on CBS and ABC declined in both categories.

"Southland" is the first launch of a 10 p.m. network drama to build in 18-49 rating from the 10 p.m. half-hour to the 10:30 half-hour in more than four years (since NBC's "Medium" on January 3, 2005).

NBC's primetime kicked off at 8 p.m. ET with a special telecast of "The Office" (3.3/6 in 18-49, 7.2 million viewers overall), which, pending updates, ranked #1 in adults 18-49, adults 18-34 and other key demos in this highly competitive time period ahead of CBS's "Survivor," Fox's "Bones" and ABC's "In the Motherhood." "The Office" matched last week's "ER Retrospective" in delivering NBC's highest 18-49 rating in this time period this season.

At 8:30 p.m. ET, the series debut of "Parks and Recreation" (3.0/11 in 18-49, 6.8 million viewers overall) won its highly competitive time period in adults, men and women 18-34. In adults 18-49, "Parks and Recreation" retained 91 percent of its lead-in from "The Office" special, and topped NBC's season-to-date average for this time period by 36 percent (3.0 vs. 2.2, "live plus same day").

At 9 p.m. ET, "The Office" (3.9/11 in 18-49, 7.9 million viewers overall) won its time period in adults 18-49, adults 18-34 and other key measures, topping CBS's "CSI," Fox's "Hell's Kitchen" and a rebroadcast of "Grey's Anatomy" on ABC. "The Office" at 9 p.m. was the #1 telecast of the night on any network in adults 18-49.

At 9:30 p.m. ET, "30 Rock" (3.1/9 in 18-49, 6.8 million viewers overall) won its competitive half-hour in adults, men and women 18-34 and finished within 2 shares of the slot lead in adults 18-49.

NBC is currently tied for #1 for the night in adults 18-49, pending updates, and is #1 outright in men 18-49 and adults, men and women 18-34.