'Survivor' premieres steady; 'Private Practice' soars

The 18th edition of CBS' "Survivor" came out of the gate pretty strong, roughly matching fall's Gabon debut. 

"Survivor: Tocantins" (13.8 million viewers, 4.4 preliminary adults 18-49 and 13 share) easily won 8 p.m., though was down 10% from last spring's "Micronesia" edition. If "Tocantins" number holds, it will mark the series' lowest premiere yet by a tenth of a point.

The night belonged to ABC, with the first full-fledged crossover episode between "Grey's Anatomy" (15.1 million, 5.9/14) and "Private Practice" (14.2 million, 5.8/15) ruling the evening.

This is another series high for "Practice," up 9% from last week and retaining its highest percentage yet of "Grey's." "Practice" towered over the 10 p.m. hour, beating both its scripted competitors combined. The stunt has also benefited "Grey's," which saw its best rating since November. "Ugly Betty" (7.4 million, 2.3/6) opened the night for the network.

CBS was second in the demo, though first in total viewers. Even with "Survivor" providing its best lead-in in months, "CSI" (17.8 million, 4.9/12) was down 9% from its last original airing (when it was up against a "Grey's" repeat). "Eleventh Hour" (11 million, 2.7/7) was down 13% while facing "Practice."

In third NBC aired "My Name Is Earl" (6.3 million, 2.6/8), "Kath & Kim" (5.5 million, 2.4/6), "The Office" (8.9 million, 4.6/11) and "30 Rock" (7.6 million, 3.8/9). "Kath" and "Rock" had their highest ratings since their second episodes of the season. At 10 p.m., "ER" (7.3 million, 2.6/7) placed last in the hour.

Fox aired the 40th NAACP Image Awards (4.2 million, 1.4/4), which was the lowest-rated program on the major broadcast networks. Fox can't be too disappointed since the awards show received the same rating last year. The CW aired repeats.

Comments

[Sam]

Practice soared because it was a glorified Grey's Anatomy episode.

[Mike]

@Sam exactly. And I as a longtime Grey's viewer (getting over it) won't be roped into watching Practice to find out what happens. Both shows are sucking and playing games with viewers is lame, but evidently it works. Don't feed the animals!

[cHRIS]

yay for Greys and Patice since i like both shows.

[michael madnick]

I was a little bummed that The Hollywood Reporter showed the shot of Jeff Probst putting out the loser's torch. I tivo'd the show and just by seeing that shot knew who lost episode 1. Not too cool

Michael