Primetime Ratings: NBC Wins with Cowboys

Sunday Night Football Lifts Peacock Network to Top Spot

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/5/2007 1:03:00 PM

It was a close race in the Nielsen Media Research overnights Sunday, with NBC winning the night in the 18-49 demo with a 5 rating/12 share on the strength of its National Football League coverage of the Dallas Cowboys’ blowout of the Philadelphia Eagles.

CBS was second with a 4.8/12 in the demo, helped considerably by the 11.4/29 it drew from 7 p.m.-7:30 p.m. for the overrun of its football game, the New England Patriots' fourth-quarter comeback against the Indianapolis Colts in a battle of undefeated teams.

CBS also got a strong showing from 60 Minutes, which took that football lead-in audience and ran with it, averaging a 5/12 for second place and looking to hook viewers with its opening piece about the source of the "weapons of mass" destruction argument that got the United States into Iraq.

The hour-and-a-half between 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. was one of the highest-rated stretches in recent primetime memory, with four out of five of the networks averaging over a 4 rating.

ABC was close behind at a 4.7/12 for third place, led by Desperate Housewives with a 6.9/16 from 9 p.m.-10 p.m..

Fox was fourth with a 3.3/5, but it had the second-highest-rated scripted program of the night with The Simpsons' annual Halloween show (5.7/13).

The CW finished fifth with a 0.4/1 for a mix of old and new shows, led by a repeat of America’s Next Top Model at a 0.5/1.