"The Big Bang Theory" broke two records in ratings for Thursday night television with its first episode of 2013, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Final Nielson returns placed the CBS comedy series No. 1 for total viewers (19.25 million) and the episode, which aired on Jan. 3, topped its own record among the adults 18-49 demographic with a 6.1 ratings. The series record of rating 6.0 among adults was set on Feb. 8, 2010, and matched the next month.

The show is on a upward spiral following its record of 17.63 million total viewers for its recent Nov. 15 episode. Throughout December, the sixth season is averaging a 5.1 rating among adults 18-49 in Live+Same Day returns and a 7.1 rating in DVR usage. The Jan. 3 episode, "The Egg Salad Equivalency," began with Sheldon attempting to build a giant Jenga puzzle, which crashed shortly afterwards.

The love triangle in the show also called attention: Alex invited Leonard to a scientific lecture and he wanted to attend, but turned her down because he felt like he had to spend time with Penny. Leonard and Penny's on-again, off-again relationship on the show has had added tension ever since Alex began competing for Leonard's affection.

Leonards thinks that Alex is just being "friendly" with her open invites, but Penny gets upset and said she "wants to kill" Alex. Penny also gets mad at Leonard for not telling her about the latest invitation, but Leonard tries to sooth the situation by serenading Penny with his cello and in the end they made amends.

The entire CBS network saw a surge in viewership after airing its first originals for the 2013 year on Thursday night. "Person of Interest" matched its previous record of a 3.4 rating among adults but hit a new high in terms of viewers - 16.14 million. The network averaged 14.9 million viewers for the night.

Most of the evening television series' that went on a winter hiatus have either returned already or are doing so this week.

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