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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Thurs., Sept. 17) -- Leno bumped off by Mentalist repeat

By ED BARK
NBC and The Jay Leno Show perhaps got a taste of what's to come next week when a rerun of CBS' The Mentalist took the 9 p.m. hour.

It was close, though. And Leno still prevailed among advertiser-preferred 18-to-49 and 25-to-54-year-olds.

In D-FW's total viewer Nielsens, Mentalist had 212,576 and Leno 199,290, marking the comic's first defeat in four outings. But Leno trounced Mentalist in the 18-to-49 measurement, with 106,960 viewers to Mentalist's 58,342. Leno had a likewise large margin with 25-to-54-year-olds.

CBS will attack Leno with a full frontal assault next week, when new episodes of its popular crime series fill the 9 p.m. hour.

NBC also had new episodes of four comedy series Thursday, but none of them fared very well. The Peacock's premiere of Community had the largest overall audience, drawing 126,217 total viewers at 8:30 p.m. But that was good for only a third-place tie with ABC's Grey's Anatomy repeat. A rerun of CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation led the way with 232,505 viewers from 8 to 9 p.m., followed by Fox's Season 2 premiere of Fringe (172,718 viewers).

Community moved up to the second spot among 18-to-49-year-olds, outdrawing Fringe.

NBC's season premieres of Saturday Night Live Thursday and Parks and Recreation ran fifth in total viewers from 7 to 8 p.m. The season's first new episode of The Office improved a bit to fourth place. Office had the best showing with 18-to-49-year-olds, tying the first half-hour of Fringe for second place.

The season premiere of Fox's Bones commanded the 7 p.m. hour in total viewers and 18-to-49-year-olds, with the launch of CBS' Survivor: Samoa taking second in both measurements. Bones had more total viewers -- 232,505 -- than Leno.

In local news derby results, WFAA8 swept the 10 p.m. Nielsens in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming. It did so despite receiving the night's weakest lead-in audience from ABC's Private Practice repeat.

WFAA8 also had uncommon good news at 6 a.m., where it nipped runnerup Fox4 in total viewers. But Fox4 had the edge with 25-to-54-year-olds, with NBC5 sliding to third in both measurements and barely outdrawing CBS11 in the 25-to-54 demographic.

Thursday's early evening golds were split between early morning's top dogs. WFAA8 won at 5 and 6 p.m. in total viewers while Fox4 took the top spots among 25-to-54-year-olds.