‘The Big Bang Theory’ season 9 scores big in live+3 data for big Sheldon / Amy episode

We already knew that “The Big Bang Theory” had themselves quite the winner with their recent episode focusing on both “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and Sheldon and Amy sleeping together for the first time. Now, we’re seeing the same exact thing in the latest live+3 numbers.

According to a new report from Deadline, this past episode on Thursday night drew in total a 6.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which is a pretty substantial rise from the 4.1 that it drew in its live airing. While this isn’t the #1 rating of any show on network TV this fall (“Empire” is still a dominant force), it’s pretty far up the list.

While we don’t spend too much time discussing total viewer counts on CarterMatt (the vast majority of the time, they really don’t matter), there is something still to be said about the show notching 23 million total viewers. This is the biggest live+3 audience of any scripted network show so far this year.

Will the show be able to surpass these numbers when it returns in January? It is hard to say at the moment, but we doubt it, given that upcoming episodes don’t have the allure of either a relationship milestone or a tribute to a major motion-picture. They’ll have to figure out some other sort of way to rise to the occasion and get some of those viewers back. We’ll have some other news related to the show as time passes over the holidays.

Want to get some other news when it comes to “The Big Bang Theory”? Then be sure to head over here right now to see our Report Card for season 9 so far. Also, you can sign up now to get some other TV news on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)