'5th Grader,' 'Big Brother' tussle; Fox wins


NEW YORK -- CBS won the 8 p.m. hour Thursday with "Big Brother" but still couldn't match Fox's win in primetime.

"Big Brother" defeated the first hour of "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" repeats in the adults 18-49 demographic, but "Pirate Master" couldn't compete against "5th Grader" at 9 p.m., according to preliminary estimates released Friday by Nielsen Media Research.

"Big Brother" averaged 7.4 million viewers and a 2.7 rating/9 share in the demo against "5th Grader" (7.8 million, 2.5/8) and repeats on ABC and NBC. "5th Grader" won overwhelmingly at 9 p.m. with 8.5 million viewers and a 2.8/9 against repeats as well as CBS' "Pirate Master" (5.1 million, 1.8/5). The 10 p.m. hour went to a repeat "CSI" (9.2 million, 2.6/8).

Thursday averages: Fox (8.2 million, 2.6/8); CBS (7.3 million, 2.4/8); ABC (4.2 million, 1.3/4); NBC (3.5 million, 1.4/4); and the CW (2 million, 0.8/2).