• by Wayne Friedman , July 10, 2009

A big summer TV heavyweight -- CBS' "Big Brother" -- premiered on Thursday night to about 10% improved viewer levels versus last year's premiere.

The two-hour season opener earned a modest Nielsen preliminary 2.3 rating/8 share among 18-49 viewers between 8 and 10 p.m., pulling in 6.8 million viewers against a 2.1/7, and 6.1 million viewers for its premiere a year ago.

But the longtime CBS reality effort, now in its 11th edition, was no match for the still quick feet of Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance," which took in a 2.8/9 among 18-49 viewers and a 2.8/10 among the younger 18-34 crowd -- both top scores over all shows on the night. "Dance" had a 20% gain against the week before.

The only other fresh TV network content of note was NBC's now slower-moving "The Listerner," which sank to a 0.8/2 among 18-49 viewers from a 1.0/3 the week before.

ABC's "Samantha Who?" continued running off original episodes of the show, which won't return next season. It took in a 1.0/4 among 18-49 viewers at 8 p.m., coming in fourth place after "Big Brother" and repeats of Fox's "Bones" (1.5/5) and NBC's "30 Rock" (1.3/4).

For the night, Fox lead the way as the only network to get above the two-rating threshold among both 18-49 and 18-34 viewers: a 2.1/7 and a 2.0/7, respectively.

CBS came in second-place, a 1.9/6 in 18-49; Univision continued to do well this summer, coming in third at a 1.6/5. NBC was at a 1.1/3, ABC, a 0.8/3; and CW, a 0.5/2.