CBS' "Survivor: Palau" had no trouble besting NBC's "The Apprentice" in a head-to-head matchup on the first night of the May sweep that was prompted by President Bush's decision to hold an 8 p.m. EDT news conference Thursday. That unexpected disruption put the hurt on all of Thursday's regular players. Overall, Bush drew an audience of about 32.7 million viewers for the news conference that dealt primarily with the administration's proposed changes to the nation's Social Security program. The live news preemption forced CBS to bump "Survivor" from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., which put it in direct competition with "Apprentice." "Survivor" delivered 21.2 million viewers and 7.8 rating/20 share in adults 18-49, according to Nielsen Media Research. "Apprentice" weighed in with 12.4 million viewers and 5.5/14 in the key demo. CBS had the advantage of having drawn the largest audience for Bush's press conference with an average of 11.8 million viewers from 8-9 p.m. NBC had 6.9 million viewers in the hour while ABC averaged 5.8 million. On the cable front, Fox News Channel garnered the largest audience with an average of 2.7 million viewers from 8-9 p.m., followed by CNN (896,000) and MSNBC (569,000). Overall, Bush drew an audience of about 32.7 million viewers across eight broadcast and cable outlets. At 10 p.m., CBS stayed on top with "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (23.4 million, 8.3/21), pushed back from its regular 9 p.m. time slot, facing an original of NBC's "ER" (14.5 million, 6.6/17).