Primetime Ratings: Desperate Housewives Returns, ABC Wins
NBC’s Airing of USA Network Shows Fails to Impress Again
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/14/2008 6:08:00 AM MT
The return of Desperate Housewives gave ABC the win Sunday night in the 18-49 demo, according to Nielsen Media Research overnight numbers. That's ABC's eighth Sunday night win in a row in the 18-49 demo, according to the network
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A new episode of Housewives from 9 p.m.-10 p.m. was the night's highest-rated show with a 5.7 rating/13 share. An episode of ABC's freshman drama, Eli Stone, which airs on Thursdays, benefited from being inserted into the Sunday lineup at 10 p.m. behind the strong Housewives lead-in. The show averaged a 2.9/7 to win its time period.
ABC says Stone's 18-49 rating was up 61% from its most recent Thursday night outing.
CBS was second on the night with a 2.7/7. It got its best numbers from a half-hour overrun of its Masters coverage, with a 3.2/10 from 7 p.m.-8 p.m.
Fox was third with a 2.4/6 led by The Simpsons with a 3.3/9 from 8 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
NBC was a distant fourth with a 1.3/3. It got no help from the blink-and-you-missed-it 1.3/3 for its "USA on NBC" lineup of Monk and Psych from 8 p.m.-10 p.m., which averaged a 1.1/3 and 1.3/3, respectively.
The CW was fifth with a 0.5/1.
