‘Cosby’ Clubs ‘Simpsons’ Rerun in the Nielsens

With its first new episode of the season, “The Cosby Show” trounced a rerun of Fox Broadcasting’s “The Simpsons” Thursday night, attracting more than twice as many viewers.

“Cosby,” a longtime ratings power, captured 33% of the viewing audience from 8 to 8:30 p.m.--about 18.4 million homes, according to Nielsen figures released Friday. “The Simpsons” came in fourth in the time slot with 14% of the viewers--about 7.7 million homes. New episodes of “The Simpsons” begin Oct. 11.

“Cosby” producers were not unaware of their competition. The season premiere opened with a scene in which Cliff Huxtable’s granddaughter, played by Raven-Symone, entered his office wearing an oversized mask of Bart Simpson. Meanwhile, Cosby turned up during “The Simpsons” in one of his ubiquitous Jell-O commercials.

Other competitors in the time period Thursday included the premiere of CBS’ comic-book-inspired series “The Flash,” which garnered 19% of the audience, and ABC’s “Father Dowling Mysteries,” which drew 17%.

The new “Cosby” episode widened the ratings gap between the NBC comedy and “The Simpsons,” which began their head-to-head competition Aug. 23 when Fox moved the cartoon from Sunday nights. The previous week, when both shows were still in reruns, “Cosby” attracted 24% of the audience while “The Simpsons” had 17%.