The granddaddy of reality shows returned to Global with its 18th season Thursday and won the 8 pm hour opposite CTV’s CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, though numbers for Survivor were down from its previous season premiere.

Survivor: Brazil grabbed two million viewers with nearly a million in the key 18-to-49 demographic (down from the 2.2 million that tuned in to Survivor: Gabon last September).

Over on Fox, Survivor managed 13.6 million viewers – nearly on par with its recent openings, according to Variety.

Global comedies The Office and ‘Da Kink in my Hair couldn’t take advantage of the strong lead-in, averaging 542,000 and 160,000 respectively at 9 pm. The second-season premiere of Kink is down sharply from its first-season debut of 343,000 viewers. The Canuck show, set in a hairdressing salon in Toronto’s Caribbean community, managed 90,000 viewers in the 18-to-49 demo.

Global moved Kink to the tough Thursday slot opposite top-rated Grey’s Anatomy on CTV – while its first season played in the friendlier 7:30 pm Sunday slot, up against family fare such as CBC’s Heartland.

Grey’s scored 2.2 million viewers at 9 pm, and made up the first hour of a special crossover episode with Private Practice at 10 pm on A. Practice nabbed a season high 940,000 viewers.

Meanwhile, the eighth season of Degrassi: The Next Generation is averaging a soft 277,000 viewers thus far in its Sunday 7:30 pm timeslot on CTV – down from its season seven average of 420,000 viewers.

From Playback Daily