NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - The ladies of Wisteria Lane helped give ABC the nightly victory Sunday, though "Desperate Housewives" was down significantly from its monster Season 2 premiere last fall.

Meanwhile, CBS appears to have bolstered its fortunes by ditching its Sunday movie franchise in favor of relocated crime dramas "Cold Case" and "Without a Trace."

The fourth season premiere of "Cold Case," airing an hour later than usual at 9 p.m., did respectable business in its first head-to-head outing with a fresh installment of "Housewives." "Trace," which previously aired on Thursdays, held its own against the 10 p.m. debut of "Brothers & Sisters," which had a leg up from a strong "Housewives" lead-in.


"Desperate Housewives" was the night's top show in viewership and adults 18-49 with 23.8 million viewers and a 9.5 rating/21 share, according to preliminary estimates released Monday by Nielsen Media Research. But the soap was down sharply from its premiere last year (28.4 million, 12.3/26).

"Brothers & Sisters" opened to an average of 16.1 million viewers and 6.2/15 in 18-49. Ominously, it plunged in its second half-hour, starting with 17.5 million viewers and 6.8/16 in the demo at 10 p.m. before dropping to 14.7 million viewers and 5.6/14 at 10:30 p.m.

"Without a Trace" went in the opposite direction, growing from its "Cold Case" lead-in (15.9 million, 4.0/9) to finish out with 17.4 million viewers and 4.8/12 in 18-49.

Like "Trace," "Cold Case" grew significantly from its "Amazing Race" lead-in (10.8 million, 3.5/9) and increased by more than 1 million viewers throughout its hour.

The 7 p.m. hour went to Fox with a football runover and then "The OT" combining for 10.9 million viewers and a 4.5/14. The season premiere of "60 Minutes" (12.2 million, 2.4/7) gave CBS the viewership honors, while ABC trailed with "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (3.4/10).

NBC had a challenge at 7 p.m. with "Football Night in America" (7.1 million, 2.5/8) but came back at 8 p.m. with the first 40 minutes of the Denver Broncos-New England Patriots game that averaged an estimated 12.2 million viewers and 4.6/12 in the demo. Final ratings for the game will be released Tuesday. But football was beaten at 8 p.m. in viewership by "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" as well as Fox's "The Simpsons" (9.7 million, 4.8/12) at 8 p.m. "American Dad" at 8:30 p.m. averaged 8.4 million viewers and a 4.3/10.

Fox averaged 9.6 million viewers and a 4.7/11 in the demo for "Family Guy" at 9 p.m., dropping to 6.6 million viewers and a 3.2/7 for "The War at Home" a half hour later.

Nightly averages: ABC (16.7 million, 6.4/16); CBS (14.1 million, 3.6/9); NBC (12.2 million, 4.6/12); Fox (9.3 million, 4.4/11) and The CW (2.5 million, 1.1/3).

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Oh my God! Only 23.9 million people tuned in?

Stick a fork in them, they're done!

;)

LOL, TJL.

But you summed up my thoughts exactly. Oh the horror! 23 million! It's up against Cold Case and Football. Of course it would drop.

Oh my God! Only 23.9 million people tuned in?

Stick a fork in them, they're done!

;)
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Oh my God! Only 23.9 million people tuned in?

Stick a fork in them, they're done!

;)


:lol: That was funny

:lol:

Anyway, I don't think it's fair to compare this premiere to Season 2's premiere. The hype surrounding Season 2 was ENORMOUS and INSANE(much like Grey's Anatomy this year). Considering the show came off, what was to most, a horrible season I actually thought the numbers were quite good. I was expecting a little lower also with more competition this year.

and actually... the episode was HIGHER-RATED than the average of the 4 episodes aired during May Sweeps, so obviously new people came in or old people came back that weren't watching in May.

^ Well I don't know how much that's saying.....

#2 in the ratings for the week is still good. More than good.

that is way awsome news.

#2 in the ratings for the week is still good. More than good.

Yep, and it beat CSI! :D I was very surprised about that(although that's more attributed to CSI being way down than DH doing better than expected).

It's kinda funny when a show "only" gets 24 million viewers and it's supposed to be bad news. :lol:

Oh my gosh, such overdramatization. 23.9 million, that's cancellation type ratings ;)

Of course it's not going to have the same hype as last season geez :lol:

24.09 million were the final numbers. 9.6/21 A18-49 rating, 10.8/22 A25-54 rating and 14.7/21 HH rating. #2 in everything for the week behind Grey's Anatomy.

I played a part in this because I was watching football and recorded DH-lol

I played a part in this because I was watching football and recorded DH-lol
so did I :lol:

:lol: :lol:

I played a part in this because I was watching football and recorded DH-lol


Way to go Solomon ;)

Way to go Solomon ;)


Well Desperate Housewives can't compete with the NFL-lol

Solomon what are you talking about? DH killed the NFL in its time period.

Solomon what are you talking about? DH killed the NFL in its time period.


Well probably when it comes to the Men it can' compete with the NFL

I think the men 18-49 audience was very similar for DH and NFL in the hour. But overall 18-49 DH killed it (and in total viewers too). NFL Sunday night was very weak last week. Let's see if the Bears vs. Seahawks could do better.

I think the ratings for the NFL games will depend a lot on which teams are playing and how exciting the game is. Last Sunday's game was kinda boring. I switched over to DH too. :lol:

I think the men 18-49 audience was very similar for DH and NFL in the hour. But overall 18-49 DH killed it (and in total viewers too). NFL Sunday night was very weak last week. Let's see if the Bears vs. Seahawks could do better.

It better for NBC's sake. They paid a lot of money to air it... not to be in 3rd place. :rolleyes:

I think the ratings for the NFL games will depend a lot on which teams are playing and how exciting the game is. Last Sunday's game was kinda boring. I switched over to DH too. :lol:

Yeah... Seattle and Chicago are both undefeated, so this game ought to be a lot more interesting.

However, I'm a guy, and I'll never watch football over DH. :p

Either way, Sunday has more competition than Monday. Last year ABC's NFL coverage really only had CBS as competition. NBC has both ABC and CBS on Sunday, not to mention the younger skewing Fox animated comedies. But I do think tomorrow's game will do better, but who knows.

Either way, Sunday has more competition than Monday. Last year ABC's NFL coverage really only had CBS as competition. NBC has both ABC and CBS on Sunday, not to mention the younger skewing Fox animated comedies. But I do think tomorrow's game will do better, but who knows.
also the Sunday night game comes on after a full day of football so some may want to take a break sometimes. Monday Night Football was the only game on that day.