Thursday night, Sept. 27, included two closely watched drama premieres. CBS’s “Elementary,” airing at 10 p.m., won the time slot with a 3.1 average in the 18-49 demo. 

ABC’s highly promoted drama featuring the crew of a nuclear submarine, “Last Resort,” debuting in the hotly contested 8 p.m. slot, settled for a 2.2. CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory,” also airing at 8 p.m., delivered a 4.8 for its season premiere — the best number of the night. 

Interestingly, in a poll of readers by TVBytheNumbers.com, conducted before "Last Resort" aired, 65% of the respondents said the show would pull at least a 2.7 in the 18-49 demo.

Leading out of "The Big Bang Theory" on CBS, the season premiere of “Two and a Half Men” scored a 3.5.

NBC saw its Thursday night woes continue — even as its numbers were generally higher than last week’s.

Nielsen overnight figures cited by TVbytheNumbers.com show NBC in a distant fourth place in the key 18-49 demo. CBS, which premiered its new Sherlock Holmes drama “Elementary,” won the night with a 3.4 average rating in the demo for prime time overall, followed by ABC with a 2.9, Fox with a 2.8, NBC with a 1.7 and Spanish-language Univision with a 1.4. In total viewers it was CBS well out front with 13.8 million for prime time, followed by ABC (9.2 million), Fox (7.6 million), NBC (4.7 million) and Univision (3.6 million).

It could get worse for NBC. “The Thursday night NFL Network Cleveland/Baltimore game was simulcast on the NBC affiliates in both markets,” TVbytheNumbers reports. “As a result the numbers for NBC are probably inflated and subject to more than typical adjustments in the final numbers.”

According to the preliminary numbers, NBC’s best performance was by “The Office,” which delivered a 2.4 in viewers 18-49. That was better than last week’s 2.1, with the rest of the lineup also up from a week ago: “Up All Night” surged to a 1.8, up from a 1.3; “Parks & Recreation” was all the way up to a 2.1, from a 1.7 last week; “Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update” ticked up to a 1.7, from a 1.6; and “Rock Center” managed a 1.2, rising from a 1.1.

Fox’s “The X Factor” was also strong at 8 p.m., delivering a 3.2 in 18-49 — down from a 3.5 a week ago.

ABC owned the 9 p.m. hour with the season premiere of “Grey’s Anatomy,” which pulled a 4.3 average in the 18-49 demo. CBS’s “Person of Interest” settled for a 2.9 for its season premiere, while Fox’s “Glee” had a 2.5.