Overnights
Less bump for 'Desperate Housewives'
By Toni Fitzgerald
Apr 14, 2008 - 11:48:17 AM

The second round of shows returning from their writers’ strike-induced hiatus doesn’t seem to be drawing as much interest as the first round. When the CBS comedies returned last month, many did so to ratings at or above their pre-strike average.

But the shows that returned in the time since have posted less-impressive ratings, including CBS’s “CSI: NY” and NBC’s “ER” and now ABC’s “Desperate Housewives.”

The latter’s first original episode since January averaged a 5.7 adults 18-49 rating last night, according to Nielsen overnights, a series low and off 22 percent from its last post-strike episode, which averaged a 7.3 rating.

That’s not to say “Housewives” bombed; it was still far and away the night’s top show, and it boosted ABC to No. 1 for the evening in the demo, while averaging nearly 16 million total viewers.

But for ABC’s top scripted series, it was not a great return. That could indicate a number of things. Perhaps viewers weren’t aware that originals were returning, since every network is on a different timetable. 

Or maybe viewers will catch the new episode via DVR or online, as they’d been increasingly doing even before the strike.

Or there could still be some lingering resentment from the writers’ strike that has also led to the low ratings for programs on other networks. Still, if “Housewives” perks back up next week, it’s likely the case that viewers are simply confused over when shows are returning, and we’ll see more programs’ ratings slowly bump back up in the coming weeks.

ABC finished first for the night among viewers 18-49 with a 3.5 average overnight rating and a 9 share. CBS was second at 2.7/7, Fox third at 2.4/6, NBC fourth at 1.3/3, Univision fifth at 0.8/2 and CW sixth at 0.5/1.

Ratings for CBS are approximate because it had live sports coverage, and fast nationals measure timeslot and not actual program data.
 
CBS led at 7 p.m. with a 3.2 rating for overrun coverage of the Masters golf tournament, with ABC second with a 2.4 for “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” NBC and Fox tied for third that hour at 1.3, NBC for “Dateline” and Fox for repeats of “King of the Hill” and “American Dad,” with Univision fifth with a 0.7 for “Hora Pico” and “Familia P. Luche,” while CW was sixth with 0.4 for a repeat of “America’s Next Top Model.”
 
At 8 p.m. Fox took the lead with a 3.0 for “The Simpsons” (3.3) and “King of the Hill” (2.8), followed by ABC with a 2.9 for “Oprah’s Big Give.” CBS was third with a 2.7 for “60 Minutes,” NBC fourth with a 1.1 for “Monk,” Univision fifth with a 0.7 for its first hour of “Noche de Estrellas” and CW sixth with a 0.5 for “Everybody Hates Chris” (0.5) and a repeat of “Aliens in America.”
 
ABC took over at 9 p.m. with a 5.7 for “Desperate Housewives,” pushing Fox to second with a 2.7 for a repeat of “Family Guy” (3.0) and a repeat of “American Dad” (2.5). CBS was third with a 2.5 for “Big Brother,” NBC fourth with a 1.2 for “Psych,” Univision fifth with a 0.8 for its second hour of “Noche de Estrellas” and CW sixth with a 0.5 for “The Game” (0.6) and a repeat of “Girlfriends.”
 
At 10 p.m. ABC was first again, this time with a 2.9 for a special airing of “Eli Stone.” That left CBS second with a 2.4 for “Cold Case,” NBC third with a 1.5 for a repeat of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and Univision fourth with a 0.8 for “El Pantera.”
 
Among households, CBS was first for the night with a 6.9 average overnight rating and an 11 share. ABC was second at 6.5/11, NBC third at 3.6/6, Fox fourth at 2.9/5, Univision fifth at 1.1/2 and CW sixth at 0.9/1.