Ratings: ‘Law & Order’ Return Ties With ‘Station 19’, ‘Grey’s’ In Thursday TV

Primetime on Thursday was all about TV’s long-running dramas, as NBC’s Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU duked it out against ABC’s first Station 19-Grey’s Anatomy crossover event of 2022.

Per fast affiliates, the long-awaited return of Law & Order proper, Station 19, Law & Order: SVU and Grey’s Anatomy all tied for the night’s highest demo rating. Law & Order returned to NBC after nearly 12 years, earning a 0.7 rating in the 18-49 demo and 5.54 million viewers, with the 21st season of the long-running drama series welcoming back original cast members Sam Waterson and Anthony Anderson. In the same hour, Station 19 (0.7, 4.78M) returned to pick things up from Grey’s midseason cliffhanger (literally). The ABC drama was up from its midseason finale in December (0.6, 4.53M)

Following the excitement of the first primetime hour, Law & Order: SVU (0.7, 5.04M) was up from its last pre-Olympics episode (0.6, 4.18M). Grey’s Anatomy (0.7, 4.41M), which was also up from its midseason finale (0.6, 4.06M), bid farewell to Richard Flood’s Dr. Cormac Hayes.

Despite the high ratings of the NBC and ABC dramas, it was CBS’ Young Sheldon (0.6, 6.76M) that again brought in the night’s largest audience. The comedy was also CBS’ highest-rated title of the evening. With Young Sheldon topping audiences and new episodes of NBC and ABC drama’s on the slate, Thursday primetime seems back to normal after the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Fox’s evening peaked with Joe Millionaire: For Richer or Poorer (0.3, 1.39M), which was steady. Half-hour comedies Call Me Kat and Pivoting, however, weren’t as stable: Call Me Kat (0.2, 1.26M) hit lows in both demo and audience, while freshman Pivoting (0.2, 0.79M) was steady in the demo but took a turn down in viewership to reach lows.

Thursday night came to a close with NBC besting both CBS and ABC with Law & Order: Organized Crime (0.5, 3.43M). CBS touted Bull (0.4, 4.26M), while ABC welcomed back Big Sky (0.3, 1.54M).

The CW returned with a repeat of Walker (0.1, 490,000) and new episode of Legacies (0.1, 290K).