After a week in which a number of hit shows across the broadcast networks slipped to season or series lows, ABC finished the week with some good news. The network’s Sunday dramedy “Desperate Housewives” bounced back from last week’s series low to its best original outing in more than a month.

“Housewives” averaged a 6.6 adults 18-49 rating last night, according to Nielsen overnights, up 10 percent from last week’s 6.0 overnight. That had tied the April 8 Easter episode for the lowest overnight rating in the third-year series’ history.

Last night “Housewives” improved from a 6.3 to a 6.9 in its second half hour and was easily the night’s highest-rated show, though it’s still way down from this time last year and slightly down from its season-to-date 6.9 average.

There are several possible reasons for the improvement. One is that it was the fourth straight original episode of the series, which had been in repeats for several weeks before that. The run of originals may have increased the buzz around the show and brought old viewers back.

Another is that viewership levels may increase in general over the next few weeks as series near their season finales.

And yet another is that competition was a bit lighter this week than last among women 18-49 and 25-54. “Housewives” was up week to week in both those demos in the 9 p.m. timeslot while NBC, which usually runs “Deal or No Deal” in that slot, was down with the movie “Along Came Polly.”

Whether this foreshadows a greater rising trend remains to be seen. Last week a number of broadcast hits, including ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” CBS’s “CSI” and Fox’s Tuesday “American Idol,” fell to season-low numbers.

"Housewives" helped ABC to an easy win on the first Sunday night of sweeps among 18-49s with a 4.4 average rating and a 13 share. The network has now won two of the first four sweeps nights, also including Thursday.

Fox was second at 3.1/9, CBS third at 2.7/8, NBC fourth at 1.7/5, Univision fifth at 1.1/3 and CW sixth at 0.7/2.
 
ABC actually led all four hours of the night, starting with a 2.7 at 7 p.m. for “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” CBS was second with a 1.9 for “60 Minutes,” Fox third with a 1.8 for an hour of “King of the Hill” and NBC fourth with a 1.3 for “Dateline.” Univision was fifth that hour with a 0.8 for “Hora Pico” and CW sixth with a 0.4 for a repeat of “7th Heaven.”
 
At 8 p.m. ABC led with a 3.8 for “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” with Fox second with a 3.7 for an hour of “The Simpsons.” CBS was third with a 3.0 for “The Amazing Race,” NBC fourth with a 2.0 for another hour of “Dateline,” CW fifth with a 1.1 for “7th Heaven” and Univision sixth with a 1.0 for its first hour of “Bailando por la Boda de Mis Suenos.”
 
At 9 p.m. ABC led again with a 6.6 for “Desperate Housewives,” with Fox second with a 3.7 average for “Family Guy” (4.1) and “American Dad” (3.4). CBS was third with a 2.7 for “Cold Case,” NBC fourth with a 1.5 for the first hour of the movie “Along Came Polly,” Univision fifth with a 1.3 for the second hour of “Bailando” and CW sixth with a 0.7 for a repeat of “America’s Next Top Model.”
 
ABC finished with a 4.4 at 10 p.m. for “Brothers & Sisters.” CBS was second with a 3.2 for “Without a Trace,” NBC third with a 1.8 for the second half of its movie and Univision fourth with a 1.5 for the final hour of “Bailando.”
 
Among households, ABC and CBS tied for first for the night, each with a 7.4 average rating and a 13 share. NBC was third at 4.3/8, Fox fourth at 3.9/7, Univision fifth at 1.6/3 and CW sixth at 1.2/2.