ABC, CBS top Thursday

Ratings Flash - Rick Kissell

By RICK KISSELL

ABC opened the May sweeps with a victory among young adults on Thursday, while CBS wasn't far behind and led in its target demo, according to preliminary nationals from Nielsen. The victory in adults 18-49 for ABC represents its first on the opening Thursday of the May sweep since at least 1991.

The Alphabet ran fourth in demos in the competive opening hour with "Ugly Betty" (3.1/9 in 18-49, 9.6 million viewers overall), although the net nearly doubled its performance on the same night a year ago. "Grey's Anatomy" then won its hour in all key demos (8.2/21 in 18-49, 19.8 million viewers overall) despite being on the low end of its range, while the season finale of "October Road" closed out the night with a demo victory for ABC (4.2/12 in 18-49, 9.3 million viewers overall).

At CBS, "Survivor" (4.5/13 in 18-49, 13.8 million viewers overall) was in line with its recent performances to win the 8 o'clock hour, leading into a solid second-place demo finish at 9 for "CSI" (5.8/15 in 18-49, 20.0 million viewers overall); the crime drama was on the low end but eked out a victory in total viewers over "Grey's Anatomy." Rounding out things, "Shark" (3.9/11 in 18-49, 14.3 million viewers overall) placed second in 18-49 and first in both adults 25-54 and total viewers.

NBC was up vs. a year ago in the opening hour with "My Name Is Earl" (3.2/10 in 18-49, 7.6 million viewers overall) and "The Office" (3.9/11 in 18-49, 7.5 million viewers overall) but down from 9 to 10 with "30 Rock" (2.4/6 in 18-49, 4.8 million viewers overall) and "Scrubs" (2.3/6 in 18-49, 4.7 million viewers overall). At 10, "ER" (3.7/11 in 18-49, 9.5 million viewers overall) remained at its recent low levels, jumping from its lead-in but still placing third in 18-49.

Fox was solid at 8 with "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" (third-place 3.4/10 in 18-49, 10.0 million viewers overall) but fell back at 9 with "Trading Spouses" (2.1/5 in 18-49, 5.3 million viewers overall), while CW's "Smallville" (1.5/4 in 18-49, 3.9 million viewers overall) was off about 20% vs. the same night a year ago on the WB but lead-out "Supernatural" (1.4/3 in 18-49, 3.3 million viewers overall) was on par with its 2006 numbers.

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: ABC, 5.2/14; CBS, 4.8/13; NBC, 3.2/9; Fox, 2.8/8; Univision, 1.7/5; CW, 1.4/4.

In total viewers: CBS, 16.0 million; ABC, 12.9 million; Fox, 7.6 million; NBC, 7.2 million; Univision, 3.8 million; CW, 3.6 million.