Free of World Series competition, ABC reclaimed Sunday night with its drama-and-reality lineup and held off a surprisingly strong charge from the NFL on NBC.
Leading the evening with a 5.6 rating among adults 18 to 49, ABC led with “Desperate Housewives” (8.3), “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (5.5) and “Brothers & Sisters” (5.0)—all of which posted gains over the prior week, according to preliminary numbers from Nielsen Media Research.
NBC was in second place with a 5.2 for the night thanks to “Sunday Night Football” (5.8) and a pregame show (3.4). That’s its highest rating since the Sept. 10 season opener and a 15 percent increase over last year’s comparable Monday night telecast on ABC.
Third place CBS had its mixture of news magazine (“60 Minutes,” a 4.1), reality (“The Amazing Race,” a 3.9) and procedurals (“Cold Case” and “Without a Trace,” a 3.6 and 3.7 respectively).
The Fox comedy block earned a 2.0 average for the night.
For Saturday, ABC screened “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (2.0) and won the night among a largely rerun field, according to the national ratings.
Friday saw Fox’s Game 5 of the World Series easily besting all challengers with a 4.3 for the match. The figure confirms this World Series as the least-watched yet, down 15 percent from last year’s final four-game average.
CBS was in second place with “Ghost Whisperer” (3.1), “Close to Home” (2.7) and “Numb3rs” (3.1) earning a collective 3.0.
That beat out NBC (2.8), which had a disappointing night. First, “1 vs. 100” garnered only a 2.8. The new game show won the past two Fridays with a “Deal or No Deal” lead-in and a 9 p.m. slot. But it was moved to 8 p.m. and was down considerably from its former 3.7 rating. While at 9 p.m. the fourth season premiere of “Las Vegas” (3.1) was the lowest-rated premiere of the series to date.
ABC came in fourth place (2.5) with an airing of the classic special “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” (2.6). The special gave a viewership boost to “Men in Trees” (2.2), which had its best performance in five weeks.
ABC Reclaims Sunday
Oct 30, 2006 • Post A Comment