'Rob!' Pulls Off Stunning Thur. Night Rating, 'The Finder' Falters

Prepare for words I never dreamed I would end up typing: a premiering CBS sitcom starring Rob Schneider earned total viewers that nearly equaled what FOX's "Bones" and its spin-off "The Finder" earned in back-to-back hours combined.

For the uninitiated, Schneider is a 90s "Saturday Night Live" alum who owes nearly his entire post-"SNL" career simply to being friends with Adam Sandler, because he's otherwise best known for crimes against comedy like "The Hot Chick" and "The Animal" that the Geneva Convention officially recognizes as torture devices. "Rob!", which features Schneider as a newlywed gringo trying to live comfortably with his stereotypically latino in-laws, has been drubbed by critics but Thursday night pulled a staggering 13.5 million viewers and a 4.1 rating among 18-49 adults in its 8:30 PM ET/PT slot.

Let's plate up some perspective: "Bones" usually carries FOX to Thursday night victory, but pulled 8.6 million and a 2.4 rating last night. It was followed up by the anticipated spin-off "The Finder," which drew a low 5.5 million and a 1.7 rating.

That means that only about 600,000 viewers separated "Rob!" and the combination of "Bones" and "The Finder."

Elsewhere, "The Big Bang Theory" led into "Rob!" strong, netting 15.9 million viewers and a 5.2 rating. According to Entertainment Weekly, it's a dip for the hit comedy but still the time period's best numbers since May 2010.

Over on NBC, "Community" fans might consider getting worried. In the usual "Community" time slot, "30 Rock" pulled a 1.8 rating and 4.6 million viewers that matched the best numbers of the "Community" in three seasons - and that was actually down 31 percent from the "30 Rock" debut last year, and the show's lowest debut rating yet.