If ABC was hoping to make some improvements to its Thursday night ratings, the network might have to try again. In the Motherhood and Samantha Who? tied Ugly Betty‘s previous demos while averaging a smaller audience. Meanwhile, a rare Thursday appearance of American Idol gave FOX a win in both categories.

8pm

• American Idol (7.4/21 in 18-49) rang up 22.4 million.
• NCAA basketball (10.1 million, 3.5/9) rallied 700,000 more.
• The premiere of In the Motherhood (6.7 million, 2.1/6) tied Samantha Who? (6.5 million, 2.1/6) in the demos.
• My Name is Earl (5.9 million, 2.0/6) fell by 500,000; an early episode of The Office* (4.8 million, 2.1/5) was up 200,000.
• Smallville (3.7 million, 1.5/4) added on 400,000.

9pm

• Grey’s Anatomy (15.8 million, 5.5/13 in 18-49) grew by 1.8 million.
• Hell’s Kitchen (10.9 million, 4.7/11) improved by 3.3 million.
• The Office (8.4 million, 4.3/11) picked up 400,000 more.
• 30 Rock (7.2 million, 3.4/8) climbed by 200,000.
• Supernatural (3.2 million, 1.2/3) did about the same.

10pm

• Private Practice (10.5 million, 3.8/9) rounded up another 1/2 million.
• ER (10.2 million, 3.5/10) piled on 700,000.

*denotes repeat

(You can review last Thursday’s ratings here.)