The TV Renewal/Cancellation Scorecard has been updated to reflect these numbers.

No surprise that “American Idol” was the most-watched program Thursday; it drew a 6.5 in the demo, more than three full points ahead of the next highest program for the night. It’s lead-in boosted “Bones” to season highs, where it drew a 3.4 in the demo.

“CSI” took advantage of the lessened competition at 9 pm; against “Bones” it came up second in the hour with a 3.1 demo, its highest in several months. “Big Bang Theory” was even versus its last airing, as was “Rules of Engagement” from its last post-”Theory” airing.

“Engagement” is performing solidly at 8:30 — a 2.8 is nothing to scoff at. But CBS has a long history of canceling these solid performing shows, especially its worst performing comedy. So who gets the boot, “$#!* my Dad Says” or “Rules of Engagement?”

* Repeat

8 pm

American Idol: 6.5 demo, 21.8 million viewers

Big Bang Theory: 3.8 demo, 12 million viewers

*Wipeout: 1.7 demo, 5.5 million viewers

*Community: 1.0 demo, 2.7 million viewers

*Vampire Diaries: .5 demo, 1.3 million viewers

8:30

Rules of Engagement: 2.8 demo, 9.5 million viewers

*Perfect Couples: .8 demo, 2 million viewers

9 pm

Bones: 3.4 demo, 11 million viewers

CSI: 3.1 demo, 14 million viewers

*Wipeout: 1.9 demo, 5.5 million viewers

*The Office: 1.4 demo, 3 million viewers

*Nikita: .3 demo, 1.1 million viewers

9:30

*Parks and Recreation: 1.1 demo, 2.5 million viewers

10 pm

The Mentalist: 3.0 demo, 14.4 million viewers

*Grey’s Anatomy: 1.2 demo, 3.5 million viewers

*30 Rock: 1.1 demo, 2.4 million viewers

*The TV Renewal/Cancel Scorecard has been updated to reflect these ratings.

NBC ran a full slate of re-runs Thursday night, but not just any re-runs: an unprecedented six consecutive episodes of “The Office.” They averaged 3 million viewers and a 1.4 rating for the night.

ABC was also in complete re-runs, while CBS aired all repeats except a new episode of “Rules of Engagement.” Good sign, bad sign, or just episodes to burn?

Oh yeah, Fox aired “American Idol.” Given that it aired against all re-runs, it had some of its highest ratings, and the highest ratings on Fox for a Thursday since 2007.

The reason many networks air re-runs the first week of March is February sweeps is over. A sweeps month is a month of more accurate broadcast viewership counting. These numbers are used by the networks to pitch television ad rates, which are almost exclusively based on the 18-49 viewership. So in the three sweeps months (November, February, May) networks try to air exclusively new content.

*repeat

8 pm

American Idol (8-10): 8.1 demo, 24.9 million viewers

*The Big Bang Theory: 2.5 demo, 9.1 million viewers

*Wipeout: 1.4 demo, 4.7 million viewers

*The Office (8-11, 6 Episodes): 1.4 demo, 3 million viewers

8:30

Rules of Engagement: 2.4 demo, 8.3 million viewers

9 pm

*CSI: 1.8 demo, 8.3 million viewers

*Grey’s Anatomy: 1.2 demo, 3.9 million viewers

10 pm

*The Mentalist: 1.9 demo, 10.4 million viewers

*Private Practice: 1.0 demo, 3 million viewers

Justin Bieber, who starred as Jason McCann, returned to “CSI” on Thursday, but his role was the episode’s “villain,” and ended up getting shot several times and killed.

However, teen sensation tweeted before the show, “Everyone back home make sure to tune in to CSI tonight!! Jason McCann is BACK!! #badass.”

CBS officially announced on Tuesday that Justin Bieber will return to “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”The 16-year-old pop sensation will reprise his role as Jason McCann, whose brother was killed by the CSI forensic team. His previous episode was aired in the 12th season premiere on September 23.

His new episode titled “Targets of Obsession” is going to be aired on February 17.

“My Generation” had a worse performance than its premiere, and was promptly cancelled Friday, averaging 3.8 million viewers and a 1.1 rating. It’s demo rating was down 32% from it’s already weak 1.6 premiere. It becomes the second casualty of the fall, behind “Lone Star” on Fox, which had similar trends in its second week.

“Grey’s Anatomy” averaged 12.5 million viewers and a 4.6 rating, topping all programs for the night. That was substantially lower than it’s 5.3 premiere rating last week, when it averaged 14 million viewers. “Private Practice” averaged 7.9 million viewers, and a 2.8 rating.

“The Big Bang Theory” pulled 13 million viewers and a 4.4 rating, and “$#*! My Dad Says” averaged 10.4 million viewers and a 3.3 rating to lead all shows in the 8 p.m. hour. At 9, “CSI” had 13.4 million viewers and a 3.1 rating to fall behind in third for the hour. “The Mentalist” led at 10 p.m. with 14 million viewers and a 3.0 rating.

“Community” was third in the hour at 8 p.m. with 4.5 million viewers and an anemic 1.9 rating. “30 Rock” held steady from last week with a 2.6 rating and 5.7 million viewers. “The Office” was second at 9 p.m. with a 3.7 rating and 7.3 million viewers. “Outsourced” fell to a 2.8 rating and 5.8 million viewers. That’s down more than 20% from it’s premiere ratings. At 10 p.m. “The Apprentice” was last with 3.6 million viewers and a 1.6 rating. The long-running reality show may be on its last legs.

Fox was last for the night with “Bones” averaging a 2.5 rating and 9.7 million viewers at 8 p.m., and “Fringe” was dangerously low at 9 p.m. with a 1.9 rating and 5.2 million viewers.

If the seemingly 14 different permutations of the television drama CSI aren’t enough to satiate your crime solvin’ fix, Ubisoft and CBS Consumer Products will attempt to give you your fill with two CSI related games this fall.

The first game, CSI: Fatal Conspiracy features five new connected cases written by the same writers from the television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Gamers will experience an authentic crime-solving videogame with real CSI characters, heart-pounding interrogations and enhanced graphics. A unique story structure that unveils the truth piece by piece brings a new level of suspense and intrigue to the top-selling franchise.

Developed by Telltale Games, CSI: Fatal Conspiracy will continue the crime-solving gameplay of Ubisoft’s CSI video game series and bring it to a whole new standard, and it will be available in October for the Wii, Xbox 360, Windows PC and PS3.

The second game, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Unsolved! will be exclusive to the Nintendo DS and DSi. According to the press release, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Unsolved! will make the most of the DS touch screen for an improved pick-up-and-play experience. Players will get to join forces with their favorite CSI characters from the show and solve five original murder mysteries, such as the death of a young pop star on stage or the discovery of a mummified body in the desert.

For more on these games, check out the official websites.
Here and here.

According to a report in Deadline, NBC will cancel the long-running crime drama “Law & Order.”

The drama, which was trying to become the longest running drama on television (Gunsmoke) apparently will end after its 20th season.

NBC will, however, renew “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” and is expected to pick up a new spinoff called “Law & Order: Los Angeles.”

“Law & Order” was a groundbreaking cop drama which paved the way for shows like “CSI” and “NCIS.”

The premiere season has just about wound down at this point, but we have a few cable shows on tap tonight.

Animal Planet premieres “Weird, True and Freaky” at 9 p.m., with “Lost Tapes” to follow at 10. MTV has some reality shows starting tonight; most notably is the reality-drama “The Hills” at 10 with “The City” to follow at 10:30.

Actor Omar Miller is joining CSI: Miami as a regular starting with the October 5 episode. Miller will play Walter Simmons, an art chief from Louisiana who joins the crime fighting CSI team.

CBS had the best night on Friday, according to Nielsen, with premieres of “Ghost Whisperer,” “Medium” and “Numb3rs” scoring big on the ranking charts. We predict that will continue tonight as CBS has new episodes of three of its biggest shows, “NCIS,” the new “NCIS: Los Angeles,” and “The Good Wife.”

We wonder how long “NCIS: Los Angeles” will continue to air on Tuesdays. The two NCIS shows are hits, and we have to assume one will get moved to bolster a slower weekday.

“Dancing with the Stars” is on ABC tonight and “So You Think You Can Dance” is on FOX.

Finally, no it’s not the 90s, but new episodes of the new “90210,” and “Melrose Place” are on The CW tonight.

By the way: Because of a reporting error, we said “NCIS: Los Angeles” aired on Mondays. It airs on Tuesdays.

A little slower tonight after yesterday’s craziness.

But only a little.

ABC premieres “FlashForward” at 8 p.m., but the biggest of the night has to be the two-hour premiere of “Grey’s Anatomy” at 9 p.m. After all the post-season cast drama and changes, it will be good to see how the show turns out this season.

CBS premieres a new season of the original “CSI” at 9 p.m. as well as “The Mentalist” at 10.

The Discovery Channel will go the route of SyFy and take on some ghostly ways with two Texas brothers searching for the ethereal in “Ghost Lab,” premiering October 6 at 10 p.m. In the 13-episode series, Brad and Barry Klinge travel the country in their mobile lab in search of ghosts.

Finally, this morning, The CW has ordered a mid-season docu-reality series called “Fly Girls” about a group of female flight attendants (we can’t say stewardesses anymore) working for the new Virgin America airline. The premise of the corporate-feeling show is to follow five hotties around their work and personal life as they share a home in Los Angeles and fly around the country.

Criminals and Al Bundy rule the tubes tonight.

CBS has the most premieres tonight with “The New Adventures of Old Christine” at 8, “Gary Unmarried” at 8:30, “Criminal Minds” at 9, and “CSI: New York” at 10. The drama continues on NBC with premieres of “Mercy” at 8 p.m. and “Law and Order: SVU” at 9.

ABC offers the series premiere of “Modern Family” tonight at 9 p.m., which is Ed O’Neil’s return to primetime. Blast will be running our interview with O’Neil later today, and we’ll continue to talk about our time on-set with ABC.

ABC also has premieres of “Cougar Town” at 9:30 and “Eastwick” at 10 tonight.

FX is starting a new comedy show about fantasy football. “The League” follows a bunch of guys in the suburbs and their shenanigans. That will start-up on October 29 at 10:30 p.m. following “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” FX has ordered six episodes of the new comedy show.

MTV continues the reality shows with “Disaster Date,” a hidden-camera show about people who set up their friends on a blind date with an actor who makes things disastrous for them. The fun times begin September 28 at 6 p.m.

Nielsen says that SyFy’s season finale of “Eureka” gained 2.3 total viewers last Friday at 9 p.m., which is impressive for the cable network.

Syfy’s season three finale of Eureka last Friday at 9p averaged 1.1 million A18-49, 1.2 million A25-54 and 2.3 million total viewers. HBO’s return of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” Sunday night gained 1.1 million viewers on Sunday night. A new show followed, “Bored to Death,” to the tune of about 1 million viewers.

Finally for you Melrose Place fans, Heather Locklear will join The CW‘s version of the show on November 17, reprising her role as Amanda Woodward.