Housewives, Grey Go Back for Seconds

ABC claimed another easy victory on Sunday night with the second episodes of powerhouses Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy.

The network averaged a 7.1 rating/18 share among 18-49 adults during Sunday’s prime time, according to Nielsen fast national data. ABC’s closest competitor was Fox, which averaged 4/7/12 in advertisers’ prized demo.

ABC programs nearly swept all four hours of the night, but Fox’s football game in overtime bled into the 7 p.m. hour. As a result, the season premiere of ABC’s America’s Funniest Home Videos (2.6/8) did not win its time slot, but it improved substantially from last year’s premiere (1.9/6).

Desperate Housewives was ABC’s best performer, notching a 11.8/26 at 9 p.m. that was down only slightly from its premiere last week (12.3/26). The show averaged 26.7 million total viewers, down from 28 million last week.

At 10 p.m. Grey’s Anatomy scored an 8.3/20—matching its premiere performance last Sunday (8.6/21). On the other hand, ABC’s 8 p.m. show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, grabbed a 5.8/15—decreasing more than a full rating point from its premiere last week.

Second-place Fox aired a Simpsons rerun (4.9/13) at 8 p.m.; The War at Home (4.2/10) at 8:30; a Family Guy rerun (4.4/10) at 9; and American Dad (3.8/8).

NBC (2.9/7) edged out CBS (2.8/7) for a third-place finish. NBC’s breadwinners were Law & Order: Criminal Intent (3.3/7) at 9 and Crossing Jordan (3.9/9) at 10. The West Wing (2.2/5) sputtered in its new 8 p.m. time slot, while Dateline finished at 1.8/6.

CBS’ movie, Mayday (2.6/6), couldn’t make a dent against ABC’s lineup from 9-11 p.m., but the network’s average was punched up by Cold Case (3.9/10) at 8-9. 60 Minutes (2.1) led off the night at 7.

The WB finished last with an average 1.1/3 on the night. It aired two Reba reruns (.9/3) in the 7 o’clock slot, followed by Charmed (1.5/4) at 8 and two Blue Collar TV repeats (1.0/2) at 9.