"THE BIG BANG THEORY" TOPS "AMERICAN IDOL" IN ADULTS 18-49 AND ADULTS 25-54 IN COMMON HALF-HOUR

"Rob" Continues Strong in Second Broadcast, Retaining 85% of its Premiere

Adult 18-49 Rating Opposite "American Idol"

"Person of Interest" Matches Series-High Demo Ratings

"The Mentalist" Sweeps the 10:00 PM Time Slot, Beating the Competition Combined

CBS Wins Thursday in Viewers

                The 100th episode of THE BIG BANG THEORY topped "American Idol" in adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 in the common half-hour, ROB continued strong in its second broadcast and PERSON OF INTEREST matched its series high in adults 18-49, according to Nielsen live plus same day ratings for Thursday, Jan. 19.

THE BIG BANG THEORY (9.3/15, 15.84m) was first in adults 25-54 (6.8/17), adults 18-49 (5.3/15) and tied for first in adults 18-34 (3.8/12, with FOX).  THE BIG BANG THEORY posted its best-ever deliveries in households, viewers, adults 25-54, adults 18-49 and adults 18-34 against an episode of "American Idol." 

ROB was second in households (6.9/10), viewers (11.41m), adults 25-54 (4.6/10) and adults 18-49 (3.5/09).  Compared to last week's series premiere, ROB retained 88% of its households delivery (from 7.8/12), 85% each in viewers (from 13.47m), adults 25-54 (from 5.4/13) and adults 18-49 (from 4.1/11).

PERSON OF INTEREST was first in households (8.7/13), viewers (14.40m), adults 25-54 (4.5/10) and second in adults 18-49 (3.2/08).  PERSON OF INTEREST matched series highs for adults 25-54 and adults 18-49 and scored its second-best viewer performance.

THE MENTALIST was first in households (8.8/14), viewers (14.22m), adults 25-54 (4.1/10) and adults 18-49 (3.0/08).  Compared to last week, THE MENTALIST was up +4% in households (from 8.5/14), +8% in adults 25-54 (from 3.8/09), +11% in adults 18-49 (from 2.7/07) and added +570,000 viewers (from 13.65m, +4%).  THE MENTALIST beat NBC and ABC combined in viewers (vs. 9.42m, +51%), adults 25-54 (vs. 3.8/10, +8%) and tied NBC and ABC combined in adults 18-49 (vs. 3.0/07).  

For the night, CBS was first in households (8.5/13), viewers (14.11m), tied for first in adults 25-54 (4.8/11, with FOX) and second in adults 18-49 (3.5/09).    

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Press Contacts:             Ed Harrison            818-655-1584       ed.harrison@cbs.com

                                    Jeremy Murphy       212-975-4577       jeremy.murphy@cbs.com