Sunday’s Numbers [09.28.2008]
By fred | September 29, 2008
Last night was a Sunday night like we hadn’t seen in a while : except for The CW all networks averaged over 10 million viewers. The big winner was NBC, whose Sunday Night Football made the Peacock winner of the night both in total viewers (14.23 million) and on the demo (5.6). Meanwhile Fox had a pretty good comedy night and did quite well on the demo (4.6 overnight), while ABC can be pleased to have the most-watched program of the night, both in viewers and on the demo, with Desperate Housewives.
At 8.00 the football was first, and then reality TV. 20 years later The Simpsons still have fans, many of them. This new season opened with no less than 9.3 million viewers, and a 4.4 on the demo, making the show the most-watched program of the night for Fox. It was beaten by Family Guy on the demo (4.5) however one hour later, despite the show having slight less viewers (9.2 million).
Still, Fox animated comedy night is here to stay, no question there. At 9.00 of course it was the season premiere of Desperate Housewives, and the time-traveling cliffhanger worked very well as there were 18.44 million fans watching the new lives of the housewives. Last season opened with 19 million viewers, so slightly better, but ended with only 17 million of them, so all in all it’s a really good start.
On CBS Cold Case was back, and 11.24 million viewers were there to welcome Lilly Rush, about one million less than last there were for last season premiere. At 10.00 Brothers & Sisters will have those who say it was good, with 12.35 million so about 1.3 million more viewers than last season’s finale, but of course given its lead-in a boost was expected. And as others will point out, 12.35 million viewers and a low 4.8 on the demo (from the 7.0 of its lead-in) makes for poor retention…
New on Sunday night was CBS’ The Unit, and with 9.75 million viewers and a 2.6 on the demo, it’s not that great (less than it did last season on Tuesday nights, or Shark did on Sunday nights), but the retention from Cold Case, especially on the demo, was pretty good.
All numbers of the night below :
| Sunday, September 28th | ||
| Show | Network | Viewers (18-49) |
| 8.00 | ||
| Pregame/Sunday Night Football | NBC | 14.86 M (5.7) |
| Extreme Makeover | ABC | 11.91 M (3.7) |
| The Amazing Race | CBS | 10.29 M (3.2) |
| The Simpsons | Fox | 9.30 M (4.4) |
| King Of The Hill [8.30] | Fox | 7.04 M (3.3) |
| Privileged (R) | The CW | 1.22 M (0.6) |
| 9.00 | ||
| Desperate Housewives | ABC | 18.44 M (7.0) |
| Sunday Night Football | NBC | 16.44 M (6.5) |
| Cold Case | CBS | 11.24 M (2.7) |
| Family Guy | Fox | 9.20 M (4.5) |
| American Dad [9.30] | Fox | 6.86 M (3.2) |
| America’s Next Top Model (R) | The CW | 1.44 M (0.7) |
| 10.00 | ||
| Sunday Night Football | NBC | 15.02 M (6.3) |
| Brothers & Sisters | ABC | 12.35 M (4.8) |
| The Unit | CBS | 9.75 M (2.6) |
| Global | Adults 18-49 | ||
| NBC | 14.23 M | NBC | 5.6 |
| ABC | 12.47 M | Fox | 4.6 |
| CBS | 10.86 M | ABC | 4.4 |
| Fox | 10.58 M | CBS | 2.6 |
| The CW | 1.34 M | The CW | 0.6 |
Posted in Numbers/Ratings
Shows: American Dad, Brothers & Sisters, Cold Case, Desperate Housewives, Family Guy, King Of The Hill, The Simpsons, The Unit
