TV Jots

7pm: Despite NBC’s strong football showing, the sport did even better on CBS at 7pm with the hour-long overrun from the last game of a late afternoon NFL doubleheader (21.59 million viewers, 6.5 rating/17 share). Those were the best ratings of the night on both counts.

The first hour of a two-part Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 100th episode also produced good number for ABC (10.38m, 3.4/9). NBC’s Football Night in America (7.22m, 2.5/7) came in third, with a double repeat of The Simpsons (5.42m, 2.4/6) at fourth, and The CW’s failing combination of CW Now (0.82m, 0.3/1) and Aliens in America (0.83m, 0.3/1) at fifth.

8pm: In the next hour, CBS remained in the top spot, thanks to venerable 60 Minutes (15.52m, 4.0/9). The last hour of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (14.95m, 5.0/11) stayed steady at second in total viewers, with the final half-hour of NBC’s Football Night in America (14.66m, 5.4/13) just behind it in over all audience, but just ahead among 18–49-year-olds.

Yet, at 8:30pm, NBC’s Sunday Night Football (19.08m, 7.5/17) immediately knocked CBS off its perch. Fourth place went to The Simpsons (9.03m, 4.1/10) and King of the Hill (8.55m, 3.9/9) on Fox, while The CW stayed last with a repeat of Life Is Wild (1.2m, 0.4/1).

9pm: Predictably, ABC and Desperate Housewives (18.54m, 6.9/15) became the ones to beat at 9pm, after football on NBC, of course. CBS’ The Amazing Race (12.17m, 3.6/8) pulled hard anyway for third, besting Fox’s cartoon combo of Family Guy (9.6m, 4.7/10) and American Dad (8.42m, 4.0/9) at fourth.

10pm: NBC and football could not be surpassed at 10pm either. Instead, ABC’s Brothers & Sisters (12.52m, 4.8/11) managed to lure just a smidgen more viewers overall than CBS’ Cold Case (12.28m, 3.1/7), although the family drama produced far better results in the 18–49 demographic.

11pm: CBS’ Shark did air around 10:55pm, but the start time was so late as a result of the early-evening football overrun that the ratings didn’t count for Sunday-night primetime Sweeps results.

Overall: NBC (16.78m, 6.5/15) led decisively. CBS (15.39m, 4.3/10) followed in total viewers, but trailed ABC (14.09m, 5.0/12) among viewers aged 18 to 49. The bottom two included Fox (7.74m, 3.6/8) at fourth and The CW (1.14m, 0.4/1) at fifth.

DATA EXPLANATION: In the households figure 6.4/11, 6.4 is the household RATING that indicates what average percentage of U.S. households tuned into a particular show (6.4%), while 11 is the household SHARE that refers to what average percentage of televisions in use were tuned into a particular show (11%).

Tags: November Sweeps, ratings, television, tv