Early-evening football overruns boosted primetime numbers on CBS and Fox, giving Fox’s The Simpsons 1.6 million viewers over its last original airing and The Cleveland Show 500,000 more viewers, according to early Nielsen estimates. Desperate Housewives surged, up 500,000 viewers from its already huge Dec. 6 airing, as it resolved its pre-Christmas plane crash cliffhanger — and marked the return of fresh, scripted television to the airwaves after the holiday hiatus with its biggest audience in more than a year.
| Time | Show | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|
| 7 p.m. | NFL overrun/60 Minutes (CBS) NFL overrun (Fox) America’s Funniest Home Videos (ABC) Football Night in America (NBC) |
14.9 12.4 10.2 7.0 |
| 8 p.m. | Sunday Night Football (NBC) NCIS (CBS) Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC) The Simpsons (Fox) |
14.2 11.4 (repeat) 11.0 8.7 |
| 8:30 p.m. | The Cleveland Show (Fox) | 7.0 |
| 9 p.m. | Desperate Housewives (ABC) Cold Case (CBS) Family Guy (Fox) |
15.2 8.6 (repeat) 8.1 |
| 9:30 p.m. | American Dad (Fox) | 5.9 |
| 10 p.m. | Brothers & Sisters (ABC) Cold Case (CBS) |
10.9 7.2 (repeat) |
Source: Nielsen
wow American Dad did horrible compared to Seth’s other 2 shows, I myself fell asleep while trying to watch it.
ABC scored only because CBS was in repeat mode and the NBC football game was a quick washout.
Desperate Houswives’ has become a Joke. Almost unwatchable. How the mighty has fallen.
last night’s DH was one of the better episodes so far this season. the “future Lynette” scenes had tears rolling down my face. the show may have gone on-track some time ago but Felicity Huffman never has.
I totally agree. I haven’t been watching this season as regularly, but I am going to catch up and keep up.
Arty is correct. I am not sure why people tune in to watch anymore. I tuned last night because I wanted to give it one more chance. I was so disappointed. At about the 20 minute mark I logged into my computer and started to read the news on the internet. After the 40ish minute mark, I could not take anymore. I turned it off. AT one time I was a huge fan of the show.
American Dad was good last night, it was better than FG and TCS.
I wonder what line of reasoning people will come up with for the huge ratings ABC’s Sunday night lineup consistently pulls when football season is over and Amazing Race comes back to replace NCIS repeats and draws lower ratings. Say what you will but sandwiched between 60 minutes, NFL overruns and a Sunday night game ABC’s regular lineup scored over 10 million viewers in each hour and drew fantastic demo numbers relative to the competition. They must be making a killing off of the America’s Funniest Home Videos program.