Housewives, Grey Go Back for Seconds
By Joel Meyer published
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.
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