CBS’ combo of Sunday afternoon football and 60 Minutes helped the network win the night in total viewers, according to preliminary overnight ratings. But it was not all good news for the network: Its freshman series Three Rivers managed only around 7.9 million viewers after being pushed back because of football running late. Elsewhere, Dancing with the Stars’ Gilles Marini guest-starred on ABC’s Brothers & Sisters and helped boost the series’ audience by 800,000 viewers from last week. ABC also had somewhat of a mixed-bag weekend with its once-hot series Ugly Betty premiering on its new Friday night time slot to only 5 million viewers. Ugly indeed.
| Time | Show | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|
| 7pm | NFL overrun (CBS) America’s Funniest Home Videos (ABC) Football Night in America (NBC) The Clevleand Show (Fox) |
20.8 7.8 6.0 4.5 (repeat) |
| 7:30pm | The Simpsons (Fox) | 4.6 (repeat) |
| 8pm | NFL/60 Minutes (CBS) NBC Sunday Night Football (NBC) Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC) The Simpsons (Fox) |
16.0 14.7 10.4 8.6 |
| 8:30pm | The Cleveland Show (Fox) | 7.7 |
| 9pm | Desperate Housewives (ABC) 60 Minutes/The Amazing Race (CBS) Family Guy (Fox) |
13.6 10.7 8.2 |
| 9:30pm | American Dad (Fox) | 6.2 |
| 10pm | Brothers & Sisters (ABC) The Amazing Race/Three Rivers (CBS) |
9.8 7.9 |
Read more:
‘Brothers & Sisters’ recap: Sarah’s French fling
‘The Amazing Race’ recap: Dubai Bye Bye
‘Desperate Housewives’ recap: All will be revealed
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It’s nice to see that Housewives is still the highest rated scripted show of the night.
I get so furious with CBS’s weekly fall football overrun, and last night was the limit. How DARE they??
how is cbs going to control how long the football game goes? They can’t just leave the game that is 20 million people upset right there. They can’t do anything about it so relax.
CBS can’t control how late the game ends (to avoid the Heidi incident way back when), but I can’t understand why CBS, in most cases, do a 7PM planned NFL overrun (a la FOX), 7:30PM 30 min version of “60mins”, and 8PM primetime programming the rest of the night (or if it really runs late, scrap “60 mins”)… (or if “60 mins” is really important for CBS, then make 60mins 8PM during football season and bump their drama in the winter). Yesterday I had to pad an extra 1 1/4 hours to see the Amazing Race… I can’t do this every week and make my TiVo think I like “Three Rivers”.
Yeah, blame the Jets instead for stretching overtime. XD
While it’s certainly not CBS’s fault for the games going so long, you wonder why they’re trying to build Sunday viewership when football keeps delaying them from their regular airings. At least with 60 Minutes and The Amazing Race, they’re still aired fairly early and have a long standing fanbase. Three Rivers doesn’t have that advantage, and I don’t know too many people who’ll stay up for Cold Case until almost midnight. Maybe spring/summer airings are a better idea for new series to avoid this problem.
In other news, I feel sorry for Ugly Betty fans with the move. 5 million viewers? Ouch. How ironic that Friday was the original time slot for Ugly Betty back in 2006, and ABC gave it a Thursday spot to avoid this very problem. ABC better wise up before they turn irrelevant again. NBC proved how quick a network can drop to 4th place and remain there.
I’m long over due in posting that I love these ratings reports. I check them literally everyday. I do wish the Friday night ratings were posted like all the other nights. I am a fan of Ghost Whisperer, Smallville, Dollhouse and Numb3rs. Couldn’t these ratings be posted on Saturday or on Monday along with the Sunday ratings. I can understand not bothering with Saturday’s ratings. But I think Friday’s shows deserve equal coverage.
As to the football overrun, I was surprised that CBS didn’t show Cold Case. I guess they didn’t want to push the local news shows past midnight. I guess they couldn’t not show 3 Rivers while it is still trying to establish itself. You can’t blow off 60 Minutes, its a top 10 show. CBS just has an embrassment of riches. It I could only get one channel. I’d pick CBS.
I’d like to see Friday’s numbers, too, and I’d be curious to see Saturday’s.
I want THREE RIVERS;move 60 minutes. When football is late I care about Alex O’Loughlin and no other program.
Family Guy was a rerun. Booo.