Ratings: ‘Community’ returns strong; ‘Elementary’ disappoints; ‘Big Bang Theory’ big

There was probably no ratings battle all year that we were more excited to hear about than the one Thursday night, mostly because there were so many intriguing storylines to talk about. You had “Elementary” airing for the first time since the Super Bowl, “American Idol” fighting “The Big Bang Theory” for the second week in a row, and “Community” airing for the first time since NBC fired Dan Harmon. All of these stories were interesting, and they certainly yielded some results worth talking about.

1. Let’s start with the Greendale 7, who produced their best rating since the return of season 3 from hiatus last year in a 1.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic. On any other network, this would probably not be good enough; but given that this is NBC, this almost guarantees a season 5 if it can stay around this level all season long. It’s impressive that “Community” pulled this off despite the competition, even though we’re sure that the so-so premiere will lead to drops next week.

2. “Elementary” and CBS have to be feeling rather disappointed, mostly because their post-Super Bowl airing really amounted to next to nothing. A 2.3 rating is not bad by any means, but they had to have been hoping for at least something closer to a 3 in the demo, since “Scandal” defeated it by a full half a point.

Ultimately, we think the network made a huge mistake here; they should have either used the Super Bowl to launch a new show (especially a comedy that they felt really good about), or put “The Big Bang Theory” on and swing for the fences and the record books.

3. Speaking of big ratings, “The Big Bang Theory” still managed to come close to a series high last night with a 6.1. We didn’t think that the show would get close to this number now that there was more competition, but it turns out that this series, “Community,” and “American Idol” do not have that much of a crossover audience.

What do you think about these ratings? If you want to read our full review for the “Community” premiere, you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: NBC