Overnight Ratings: ABC Starts and Finishes Strong
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/30/2007 12:44:00 PM
On Sunday night, viewers were more interested in videos of wacky pets and weddings gone awry on ABC'S American Funniest Home Videos than George Tenet's much-hyped 60 Minutes interview on CBS.
In fact, ABC won 18-49 demo with a 4.4 rating/13 share for the night. The network started out with a 2.4/9 for the first half-hour of America's Funniest Videos at 7 p.m. and peaked with a 6.9/18 for the last half hour of Desperate Housewives at 9:30-10 p.m.. Then, the first half-hour of Brothers and Sisters pulled a 4.7/12 and the second half-hour pulled a 4.2/12 in the demo.
Fox was a not-to-distant second place for the night in the demo led by a strong showing from Family Guy averaging a 4.1/11 at 9-9:30 p.m. Family Guy, programmed against Housewives, is the network's top show among a mix of new and repeat animated offerings. A new episode of The Simpsons was the only show to unseat ABC on Sunday night with an average of 3.6/11 at 8 p.m. leading into an episode of Extreme Makeover with a 3.4/11 for its first half-hour.CBS was third on Sunday, averaging a 2.7/8, and led by Amazing Race at a 3/9 at 8-9 p.m.
NBC was a distant fourth with a 1.7 for a lineup of Dateline NBC and a forgettable 2004 theatrical, Along Came Polly starring Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston.
The CW aired mostly repeats and managed a fifth-place .7/2.
