The night's other series premiere, "The Last Resort," was up slightly from last year's premiere of the quickly canceled "Charlie's Angels."
CBS took a commanding first place in both the advertiser-cherished 18-49 demographic and total viewers with a 3.4 rating/10 share in the demo and 13.8 million total viewers.
"The Big Bang Theory" series premiere at 8 p.m. took a marginal hit in the demo compared to last season's premiere, posting a 4.8/15 in the demo -- the night's best ratings performance -- and 15.3 million total viewers, making it the night's most-watched show.
The "Two and a Half Men" premiere at 8:30 didn't fare nearly so well. In a new Thursday-night slot and without the anticipation that last season's premiere generated with the debut of Kutcher replacing ousted star Charlie Sheen, the show expectedly took a hit, droppping 67 percent versus last year's premiere to a 3.5/10 in the demo -- its lowest-rated original telecast to date -- and drawing 12.4 million total viewers.
The season premiere of "Person of Interest" at 9 felt a minor drop from last season's premiere with a 2.9/8 and took 14.3 million total viewers, while the series premiere of "Elementary" the following hour bowed to a strong 3.1/9 -- an 11 percent boost from last year's season premiere of "The Mentalist" -- and attracted 13.3 million total viewers.
ABC took second in ratings and total viewers with a 2.9/8 and 9.2 million. The series premiere of the submarine drama "The Last Resort" posted a 2.2/7 in the demo and took 9 million total viewers.
The "Grey's Anatomy" season premiere the following hour was up slightly from last season's premiere with a 4.3/12 and attracted 11.5 million total viewers. The "Scandal" season premiere at 10 grew 10 percent from the series premiere of the show in the spring, pulling a 2.2/6 and collected 7 million total viewers.
Fox took a narrow third place in the demo and a less-narrow third in total viewers with a 2.8/8 and 7.6 million. "The X Factor" at 8 dipped only slightly on the premiere-packed night, taking a 3.2/10 and scoring 9.2 million total viewers. "Glee" the following hour dropped 14 percent from last week to a 2.5/7 and had 5.9 million total viewers.
NBC drew fourth place in ratings and total viewers with a 1.7/5 and 4.7 million. The network's roster showed improvements over last week, though its numbers are inflated due to local NFL preemption in Cleveland and Baltimore. "SNL Election Special #2" at 8 posted a 1.7/6 and attracted 5.4 million total viewers, while "Up All Night" at 8:30 jumped 38 percent versus last week with a 1.8/5 and took 4.5
