CBS's new season of reality competition "Big Brother" made its Sunday debut, carrying the night in broadcast prime time and helping CBS claim a share of No. 1 for the night, based on Nielsen overnights for the key 18-49 demo.

TVbytheNumbers.com reports that "Brother" delivered a 1.8 average in viewers 18-49 — well ahead of the best any of the broadcast competition could muster. Its closest rivals were ABC's two-hour "Rising Star" and a "Family Guy" rerun on Fox, with both programs delivering 1.2 averages.

"Big Brother's" numbers, however, were down from previous outings — off five-tenths from Thursday's installment and down one-tenth from the Sunday premiere a year ago.

CBS's drama series "Reckless" premiered with a 0.7 in 18-49, while the season premiere of "Unforgettable" pulled a 0.9 — off four-tenths from its premiere last summer.

That 1.2 average for "Rising Star" represented a decline of three-tenths from last week for the ABC show, while "Wipeout" matched last week's 1.0 average in adults 18-49 as ABC tied CBS for No. 1 overall in the demo.

NBC was paced by a 1.1 average in adults 18-49 for its two-hour special "Last Comic Standing Room Only," pulling a 0.7 for a two-hour repeat of "American Ninja Warrior."

Fox aired all repeats and wound up in a tie with NBC for third place overall among the broadcast nets.

For prime time overall, CBS and ABC led the 18-49 demo with 1.1 averages, ahead of NBC and Fox (both with 0.9 averages) and Univision (0.7). CBS rolled to a win in total viewers with 6.1 million, topping ABC (4.5 million), NBC (3.1 million), Fox (2.0 million) and Univision (1.9 million).