‘The O.C.’ switch bodes well for Fox

Good news for Fox: A risky decision to move the youth soap “The O.C.” appeared to pay off Thursday.

The drama about well-heeled Orange County families pulled in 8.6 million viewers in its 8 p.m. time slot, according to figures released Friday by Nielsen Media Research.

While that’s down slightly from last season’s Wednesday episodes (9 million) and hardly a threat to CBS’ “Survivor: Vanuatu” (20.2 million), “The O.C.” still gave Fox its best Thursday rating in the key 18-to-49 demographic since the cop show “New York Undercover” roosted there in January 1998.

The switch is also bad news for NBC’s 8 p.m. “Friends” spinoff “Joey” (12.6 million), which now faces an even tougher struggle to connect with young viewers. For the entire night, NBC averaged 15.1 million viewers, making it the network’s least-watched Thursday in a major ratings sweeps period since at least 1987.

Scott Collins