The Big Bang Theory powers past American Idol in Dallas-Fort Worth ratings

NBC's second episode of Awake bottomed out in fourth place.

American Idol's Wednesday night ratings resurgence let to its Thursday downfall at the hands of a new episode of The Big Bang Theory.

The hit CBS sitcom drew 426,768 D-FW viewers to out-kick the 7 to 7:30 p.m. portion of Fox's Idol results show (413,220 viewers). Bang won by a wider margin among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds before Idol regrouped to win in both measurements opposite a 7:30 p.m. rerun of Bang.

CBS' crime combo of Person of Interest and The Mentalist took the 8 to 10 p.m. slot in total viewers. But NBC's The Office won from 8 to 8:30 p.m. with 18-to-49-year-olds before the second half of Fox's The Finder and Fox4's local 9 p.m. newscast had the upper hands in this key demographic.

ABC blew off the night with an all-rerun lineup, including a second showing of the Dallas-set GCB pilot at 9 p.m. It ran third in total viewers and second with 18-to-49-year-olds. NBC's competing second episode of the new Awake bottomed out with fourth place finishes in both ratings measurements.

Thursday's local news derby results went like this: CBS11 topped the 10 p.m. field in total viewers while tying Fox4 and WFAA8 for the top spot with 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.

Fox4 ran the table at 6 a.m., but barely beat an increasingly competitive WFAA8 in the 25-to-54 demographic.

WFAA8 swept the 6 p.m. competitions and NBC5 did likewise at 5 p.m.