TV Ratings: Patrick Dempsey’s ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Return Tops Thursday Night

The “Grey’s Anatomy” season 17 premiere heralded the return of Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd in an extended dream sequence.

Dempsey’s shocking appearance helped the ABC show top the Thursday night ratings charts, delivering a 1.3 rating among adults 18-49 and 5.7 million total viewers. While that was enough to see off the scripted competition, it does represent a slight 13% dip from the season 16 premiere. For further comparison, last season’s finale scored a 1.4 rating and 7.3 million viewers. Earlier on, fellow Shondaland drama “Station 19” premiere its fourth season even on the previous edition. The show scored a 1.1 rating and 6.3 million total viewers, beating the season 3 premiere by over 1 million pairs of eyeballs.

Fox technically won the night overall, thanks to “Thursday Night Football” which averaged a 2.1 rating and just under 8 million total viewers. The game itself saw the Indianapolis Colts easily defeat the Tennesse Titans by a score of 34-17.

Over on CBS, “Young Sheldon” ticked up from its season premiere last week to a 0.8 rating and 7.1 million viewers this time around. Newcomer “B Positive” dipped slightly to a 0.5 rating and 4.7 million viewers, while “Mom” held firm at a 0.6 and 5.1 million viewers. Walton Goggins comedy “The Unicorn” premiered its second season to a series low 0.4 rating and 4 million viewers. “Star Trek: Discovery” scored a 0.3 and 1.9 million viewers in the 10 p.m. time slot.

“Law & Order: SVU” came in with a 0.6 rating and 2.9 million viewers (a smaller audience than any episode last season) with its season 22 premiere. “Superstore” was even at a 0.5 rating and 2.3 million viewers. The Paley Center’s “Law & Order: Before They Were Stars” special delivered a 0.3 rating and 1.8 million pairs of eyeballs.

Over on CW, “Supernatural” scored a 0.3 and just over 1 million viewers, followed by “Outpost” with a 0.1 and 436,000.