"Housewives" hits new ratings low

[Brian Damage]

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - "Desperate Housewives" fell to the lowest ratings in its three-year history, allowing CBS to take the crown Sunday.

The first original broadcast of the ABC soap since March 4 averaged 15.7 million viewers and a 6.0 rating/15 share in adults 18-49, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research. That's down from its season average of 17.6 million viewers. A year ago, the season-to-date average was 22.5 million.

"Housewives" still was tops in viewership and adults 18-49 in the 9 p.m. hour and for the night, easily winning against CBS' "Cold Case" (11.5 million, 2.8/7) and NBC's "Deal or No Deal" (10 million, 2.8/7).


Viewers turned to CBS at 10 p.m. for "Without a Trace" (14.1 million, 3.6/9), which won in viewership against ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" (11 million, 4.1/11), while NBC's "The Apprentice" (6.7 million, 2.6/7) came in a distant third.

ABC won at 8 p.m. with "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (12 million, 4.2/12), which was down 16% from the season average (5.0/12) but still ahead of CBS' "The Amazing Race" (9.2 million, 2.9/8) and "Dateline: NBC" (7.6 million, 1.7/5) as well as the CW's "7th Heaven" (2.1 million, 0.7/2).

CBS' "60 Minutes" (12.9 million, 2.6/9) won the 7 p.m. hour against mostly repeats; Fox's schedule was entirely repeats.

For the night, CBS averaged 11.9 million viewers and a 2.9/8 in the adults 18-49 demo, followed by ABC (11.5 million, 4.2/11), NBC (7.4 million, 2.1/6), Fox (4.1 million, 1.9/5) and the CW (1.5 million, 0.6/2).

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

[Mr. Television]

Who in the world schedules an original episode on Easter? I thought it was a rerun. I missed it.

[AB]

I'll keep watching it no matter how low in the ratings it gets, I just like the show.

[friendsfan77]

I REALLY hate it when an interesting episode airs when I'm not watching, and when I AM watching, it's one I couldn't care less for.

[Skywalker]

Well thats what happens when you air nothing but reruns for a month. I wouldn't have even remembered to watch it if I didn't catch the last few minutes of last weeks clip show where they showed clips of this weeks all new episode. It's strange that they aired a new episode on Easter, don't they usually show the Ten Commandments every Easter? I know it aired the night before Easter this year but I always thought it aired on Easter.

[Ireneparalegal]

The sound of music was aired on Easter instead of Ten Commandments. I accidently came upon Ten Commandments while changing the channels. Thank God, because I really love that movie. What I found interesting is that ABCfamily channel aired The Sound of Music the same night as the Ten Commandments (Saturday) and it was shown on ABC on Sunday. Go figure.

[Brent88]

It was probably my least favorite episode ever as well... you can watch it on abc.com though. Surprisingly, the plot with Ian's parents was the best, and Gaby had a few funny moments with the dresses, but overall it was quite boring. Don't like many of the couples. Lynette and Tom's fighting is very old and it's so obvious Susan/Ian isn't going to last(the impending triangle with Mike AGAIN is obvious). I'm a fan of Carlos and Edie however.

BTW: ABC has aired a new episode on Easter every year since the show premiered. Last year it was also a season(and at the time series low) but in 2005 it was well over 20 million viewers(the same night Grey's premiered).

Anyway, here's a clip for this week. Looks better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZK9-4ojpig

[mraw]

Last week's episode was pretty boring, and I didn't like "My Husband the Pig", either. In my opinion, it's become quite obvious how much Bree holds up the show. I hope she comes back soon (but not too soon, her new family is most important).

[Dr. Thong]

Originally Posted by Skywalker

Well, that's what happens when you air nothing but reruns for a month.

Precisely. I think the problem with the way network TV operates for the most part is that they're trying to stretch roughly six months worth of programming (an average of 23 episodes for most shows) over eight months.

Personally, I'd rather see the season broken up into two parts - have one season begin in September and the other in March. That way, you could run the shows straight through with no interruptions, with the possible exception of a break around Xmas and New Years, when viewership is lower.

I like shows like 24 and The Shield, which, while having shorter runs, at least run straight through with no pre-emptions or reruns and they don't lose momentum in regards to the ongoing plotlines.

[TJL]

Originally Posted by Dr. Thong

I like shows like 24 and The Shield, which, while having shorter runs, at least run straight through with no pre-emptions or reruns and they don't lose momentum in regards to the ongoing plotlines.

I would like to see the networks adopt that approach for all thier shows. Run them uninterrupted for 22 weeks and then bring on another show.

I'm tired of waiting two months for a show to return from "february sweeps" hiatus or other shows (heroes) split into two seperate mini seasons with a multiple month break in between.

People will get tired of being jerked around waiting for a new episode.

[MikeFan]

They would be better off, IMO, starting the seasons later. For instance, 24. They start it later and then they keep the new episodes coming. It's impossible to remember when a show is going to finally start airing new episodes. I had been watching Heroes and to be honest, I've pretty much lost interest in that show and am thinking about not watching it any longer when it finally returns (this is the second such hiatus for Heroes).

There is a risk involved when they start and stop shows the way that they do. If someone isn't that invested in watching, they aren't going to keep up on it. It's easy even if someone is really paying attention to not realize when repeats are halted and the shows are new again. It's just crazy, IMO.

[catlover79]

Networks never learn. FOX began House's new season in late September 2006 only to pull it a couple of weeks later due to baseball playoffs. It comes back for a couple of episodes in November, then here come the holiday programming pre-emptions. Then American Idol comes back, and House is only shown once every 3 weeks. Now FOX is showing the last of the episodes of the season in a row uninterrupted, but if I didn't like the show so much, I'd have bailed. This is not the way you build core audiences, people!! IDIOTS.

[Buffyboy323]

Originally Posted by mraw

Last week's episode was pretty boring, and I didn't like "My Husband the Pig", either. In my opinion, it's become quite obvious how much Bree holds up the show. I hope she comes back soon (but not too soon, her new family is most important).

Glad I didn't miss anything last week. I took the housewives off my season pass in late*February, and haven't looked back. For me, the show has been boring for a long time now. Everyone used to complain and complain about season 2 being so bad, but I think it was better than most of this season.

And of course Bree holds up the show. Bree is the best. I even missed her leave the show. Where is she supposedly?

[MikeFan]

She's on a vacation or honeymoon with Orson.