ABC’s new Thursday drama “October Road” had a strong debut following “Grey’s Anatomy” last night, while NBC’s new premieres gave modest returns.

“Road” opened to a 5.8 rating among adults 18 to 49 according to Nielsen, exhibiting the best lead-in retention of any show yet to follow “Grey’s” (8.8). The premiere helped ABC win the night, though “Ugly Betty” posted its lowest rating to date (3.4).

CBS and Fox tied for second place, with CBS airing the first round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament (3.5) and Fox airing the Thursday-night premiere of “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader” (4.5). Though “Grader” dropped by 44 percent from its post-“American Idol” airings, it firmly won the hour. Fox followed “Grader” with “Family Guy” repeats (2.7 and 2.4, nearly matching NBC comedy originals).

NBC rolled out its first “newpeat” episode of “The Office,” a one-hour airing that mixes two previously aired shows together along with previously unseen footage. But its 2.8 rating was on par with previous repeat airings of the show. After a “Scrubs” (2.7), NBC debuted “Andy Barker P.I.” (2.4), down 8 percent from the season average of “30 Rock.” At 10 p.m., a preview of “Raines” (2.9) was down 41 percent from the average “ER” performance.

On The CW, “Smallville” (2.0) and “Supernatural” (1.4) hit season highs in some demographics.

(Editor: Romanelli)