'Southland' maintains debut promise; 'Parks' slips

UPDATE: "Clearly, both shows are delivering," said NBC co-chair Ben Silverman about last night's numbers. "We’re really pleased that Southland’s performance is awesome and clearly dominating 10 p.m and is a show that everyone is talking about. And Parks and Recreation delivered its highest rating a show has done out of Earl in years." 

Asked how he felt about Southland's chances next week when ABC returns to originals, Silverman said he's confident of the show's continued performance. 

"It’s somehting you can analysize in every way and feel good about," he said. "And it's nice to enter our infronts with two shows that have momentum."

PREVIOUS: The second episode of NBC's new police drama Southland was on par with its premiere and won the 10 p.m. hour Thursday night, giving the network some tentative assurance that last week's promising debut wasn't a one-time headline.

Southland (9.6 million viewers, 3.0 adults 18-49 rating) was off two tenths from its debut and steadily maintained its rating throughout its time period, though lost some steam coming out of an improved 30 Rock (7.3 million, 3.5). A clip from last night's episode below (Hulu description: "A deadbeat hustler discovers a new form of pain").

As expected, NBC's other new Thursday series, the comedy Parks and Recreation (5.9 million, 2.5), had a rougher time at 8:30 p.m. With a much lower lead-in this week from My Name Is Earl (5.3 million, 2.1) compared with last week's The Office special, Parks rose 19% from Earl but fell 17% from its premiere. At 9 p.m., The Office (8.2 million, 4.1) was up slightly.

NBC tied Fox for second place for the evening, with CBS coming in first. Survivor (11.6 million, 3.5) and CSI (15.4 million, 3.8) matched last week and the second episode of Harper's Island (8.2 million, 2.2) dropped 15%.

Fox's Bones (8.7 million, 2.5) was steady, though the detective dramedy showed notably more spark airing Wednesday night for its special, with Hell's Kitchen (8 million, 3.4) up a tenth.

Third-place ABC aired repeats of its medical dramas, with 8 p.m.'s In the Motherhood (4.7 million, 1.4) and Samantha Who (5 million, 1.5) each climbing a tenth. The CW aired repeats.