• by Wayne Friedman , September 26, 2014

CBS won the first big Thursday night of the season -- but the surprise was the improvement that ABC gained.

With “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal” and new show “How to Get Away with Murder,” three dramas from executive producer Shonda Rhimes, ABC witnessed over a 30% gain on the night versus its start a year ago. ABC averaged a 3.5 rating/11 share in the Nielsen preliminary 18-49 viewers live-plus-same-day measure, up from a 2.7 rating.

“Grey’s” was down a bit from its season premiere a year ago to a 3.0 average rating/10 share; “Scandal” at 9 p.m. earned a very strong 3.8/11, up a bit from a year ago. New show “Get Away With Murder” also scored a strong 3.8/11 -- retaining, for a new show, a rare 100% of its lead-in programming.

ABC was the lone network trying to make a showing against strong Thursday night leader CBS. 

CBS earned a 4.2/13 on the night with its big “Thursday Night Football” game in which New York easily beat Washington. The game itself pulled in a 4.5 rating among 18-49 viewers, up 1.2 of a rating point versus the game a week ago. NBC, Fox and CW did not put up much of a fight. Fox’s “Bones” earned a 1.6/5 at 8 p.m. against heavy competition, while NBC with its “Biggest Loser” -- two-hours worth beginning at 8 p.m. -- was at a 1.3/4; and a repeat of CW’s “The Vampires Diaries,” also at 8 p.m., was at a 0.2/1.

At 9 p.m., a rerun of Fox’s “Sleepy Hollow” was at 0.7/2; and a new CW “The Originals” earned a 0.2/1. At 10 p.m., NBC’s “Parenthood” saw a 1.4/4.

After CBS and ABC on Thursday night, NBC averaged a 1.3/4 among 18-49 viewers, while Univision scored a 1.2/4 followed by  Fox at a 1.1/4 and CW with a 0.2/1.