'The Big Bang Theory' Beats 'American Idol' In Ratings Again And Has Best Thursday Ever (VIDEO)

"The Big Bang Theory" (Thu., 8 p.m. EST on CBS) is seriously threatening Fox's long-time ratings juggernaut "American Idol." For the third consecutive week, the sitcom beat out the reality series head-to-head, between 8 and 8:30 p.m, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"Idol," which has seen a ratings dip in Season 11, still owned the hour after 8:30 when "Big Bang" was no longer competition. But the CBS show had its best Thursday night ratings to date with 16.4 million viewers, according to THR.

In that reportedly record-breaking Feb. 3 episode, Leonard finally reached his breaking point regarding that roommate agreement after all these years. Tired of running Sheldon all around the city on his errands, and exhausted from Sheldon's safety drill the night before, he just wanted to go home and nap. So he enacted a clause that turns them from friends into roommate acquaintances.

To Sheldon's horror, Leonard embraced the freedom the new arrangement allowed him. To Sheldon's greater horror, none of their friends seemed excited about the prospect of jumping up and filling in Leonard's place as his gopher. When the power went out, Sheldon pulled out his preparedness kit. But Penny showed up and told Leonard she had candles and wine.

Candles and wine with a hot girl in the dark, or Sheldon? It was a tough choice, and yet somehow Leonard made it easily enough, even though his choice confounded Sheldon. Unfortunately, he missed out on a chance to make Penny think there was a snail in her mouth -- ew! -- because she felt bad for Sheldon.

The compromise, such as it was, was that Leonard re-agreed to the roommate agreement, with one day per year designated as "Leonard Day." Don't worry, though, a card will suffice.

Catch "The Big Bang Theory" every Thursday at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.

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Comments

[Bettaman]

06:50 PM on 02/09/2012

TBBT is the funniest show on in decades, imo.

[Nucky Thompson]

09:00 PM on 02/05/2012

Beats out another lame Idol "Audition" show......Since the First night in Georgia....they have all been the SOS...... mostly irrelevant junk...... with a couple couple relevant performances ! DVR and FF is the MUST rule for AI !!!

[cyoohoos]

01:50 AM on 02/04/2012

There are too many singing competitions on tv.

[gfm975]

09:09 PM on 02/03/2012

Great news. Any negative impact on FOX is always welcomed news.... just wish it was FAUX News getting hosed.

[rewith85man]

04:40 PM on 02/03/2012

Well, the truth about #AmericanIdol speaks for itself.

[tigergrrldc]

04:11 PM on 02/03/2012

I really love this show! I started watching it by accident last season. I laugh at the reruns as if I haven't seen them before. I'm so glad it's in syndication because I missed a lot of good episodes. Sheldon is the best and the cast works so well together and has great timing.

[nanaofmysky]

03:37 PM on 02/03/2012

Well ya! Between the two what would you watch? A very boring same old same old.Or THE BIG BANG THEORY. There is nothing funnier on tv at this point. I love the show. I watch all the reruns daily. I always get a laugh. In fact NO ONE is to phone when it is on. If you have not seen it give it a try. You will really enjoy it.

[angelbravo]

03:11 PM on 02/03/2012

America is sick and tired of reality trash TV. Its gotten old and very stupid. The Networks have made horrible decisions. In fact Disney/ABC has destroyed their daytime programing with the worst decisions in TV History.

[damikli2]

03:03 PM on 02/03/2012

Banzinga, Seacrest!