Grey's Anatomy returned to the air Thursday night, and while it was down from last year's premiere, it was right on par with its Season 14 average.

The first hour had 7.1 million viewers and a 1.9 rating among adults 18-49. The second slipped to 6.5 million viewers and a 1.8 rating.

After that, How to Get Away with Murder slipped three tenths vs. last years opener, securing 3 million viewers and a 0.8 rating.

Could this be the year the Viola David-led series gets the pink slip from ABC? Perhaps, but the show has been known to remain stable throughout the season.

If it pulls off a similar trick this season, it could snag a final sixth season renewal. Having Davis attached to the project is a good thing.

While the retention was not great out of Grey's Anatomy, this is a heavily serialized drama. The chances of new viewers sticking around after the medical sudser for this series are slim.

Over on CBS, Murphy Brown had a sluggish start with 7.4 million viewers and a 1.1 rating in the demo. It was always going to skew older with it being a revival, but it's certainly no Roseanne.

This demo rating doesn't give the series room to fall. It's already in the danger zone.

Mom (8 million/1.3 rating) returned with lower ratings out of a weaker Young Sheldon (10.1 million/1.6 rating) which itself was out of a weaker Big Bang Theory (11.7 million/2.1 rating).

S.W.A.T. (5 million/0.7 rating) closed the night for CBS and hit a new series low.

Over on NBC, The Good Place (3.3 million/1.0 rating & 2.9 million/0.9 rating) returned lower, but it remains a solid option for the Peacock Network.

Law & Order: SVU (4.7 million/1.0 rating & 5.5 million/1.2 rating) was also on the downside year-to-year.