"Housewives" hits new ratings low

By Paul J. Gough

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - "Desperate Housewives" fell to the lowest ratings in its three-year history, allowing CBS to take the crown Sunday.

The first original broadcast of the ABC soap since March 4 averaged 15.7 million viewers and a 6.0 rating/15 share in adults 18-49, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research. That's down from its season average of 17.6 million viewers. A year ago, the season-to-date average was 22.5 million.

"Housewives" still was tops in viewership and adults 18-49 in the 9 p.m. hour and for the night, easily winning against CBS' "Cold Case" (11.5 million, 2.8/7) and NBC's "Deal or No Deal" (10 million, 2.8/7).

Viewers turned to CBS at 10 p.m. for "Without a Trace" (14.1 million, 3.6/9), which won in viewership against ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" (11 million, 4.1/11), while NBC's "The Apprentice" (6.7 million, 2.6/7) came in a distant third.

ABC won at 8 p.m. with "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (12 million, 4.2/12), which was down 16% from the season average (5.0/12) but still ahead of CBS' "The Amazing Race" (9.2 million, 2.9/8) and "Dateline: NBC" (7.6 million, 1.7/5) as well as the CW's "7th Heaven" (2.1 million, 0.7/2).

CBS' "60 Minutes" (12.9 million, 2.6/9) won the 7 p.m. hour against mostly repeats; Fox's schedule was entirely repeats.

For the night, CBS averaged 11.9 million viewers and a 2.9/8 in the adults 18-49 demo, followed by ABC (11.5 million, 4.2/11), NBC (7.4 million, 2.1/6), Fox (4.1 million, 1.9/5) and the CW (1.5 million, 0.6/2).

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter