NBC's Joey is proving to be no Friends, as Thursday's second episode of CBS's Survivor: Vanuatu once again defeated the NBC sitcom among both viewers and the advertiser-important Adults 18-49 demographic for the second week in a row.
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According to the final national Nielsen ratings for September 23, Survivor: Vanuatu's second episode drew 19.14 million viewers, a 11/7/19 rating/share in households, a 7.5/22 in Adults 18-49, and a 8.6/22 in Adults 25-54 -- figures that won its time period for the hour. Additionally, Survivor: Vanuatu also individually won both its half-hours in households, viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 versus NBC's Joey (8:00-8:30PM) and Will & Grace (8:30-9:00PM).
The performance marked the second consecutive week that Survivor defeated an original episode of Joey in the 8:00-8:30PM ET/PT time period among both viewers and Adults 18-49. Prior to last week's episode, the last time Survivor had bested an original episode of a Matt LeBlanc-featured sitcom in viewers was last fall's Novenber 13, 2003 broadcast of Survivor: Pearl Islands. The last time Survivor had won the Adults 18-49 demographic was the May 3, 2001 finale of Survivor: The Australian Outback.
After Survivor, the night only got better for CBS, with the season premiere of CSI drawing 30.6 million viewers -- more than the other three major networks combined -- and the season premiere of Without A Trace becoming the first drama to ever defeat a first-run episode of NBC's long-running ER among total viewers.
Repeating a theme seen in Tuesday's ratings, CBS was first for the evening among households (14.6/23), viewers (23.79 million), Adults 25-54 (10.4/25) and Adults 18-49 (8.8/23). The night also represented CBS's first premiere Thursday win among viewers and households since Nielsen's "people meters" measurement service began in 1987 and its first premiere Thursday win among Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54 since it aired a two-hour premiere of The Flash and Knots Landing in 1990.