Still in love with 'Wives'

Auds 'Desperate' for ABC's Sunday lineup

By RICK KISSELL

ABC's powerful trio of 'Desperate Housewives,' 'Extreme Makeover' and 'Grey's Anatomy' bowed to big numbers on Sunday.

NBC's 'West Wing' posted a weak season opener in its new 8 p.m. Sunday timeslot. Many fans may have been unaware of the slot switch.

ABC's Sunday lineup, anchored by the ladies of Wisteria Lane, picked up where it left off last season by opening to boffo numbers.

"Desperate Housewives" and the strong shows that surround it, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and "Grey's Anatomy," all dominated their timeslots. Sunday also saw a soft start for NBC's "West Wing" on its new night and a weak showing for CBS' tabloid telepic "Martha Behind Bars."

According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, "Housewives" averaged a boffo 12.1 rating/26 share in adults 18-49 and 28.2 million viewers overall -- topping the other broadcast nets combined for the 9 o'clock hour. It was up a steep 36% from its series opener last September but down a bit from last May's season finale.

"Housewives" will rank as the week's No. 1 series in adults 18-49, helping ABC capture the opening frame of the season in that demo for the first time in 10 years; Nielsen will issue first-week results today.

"CSI" should come in as the most-watched program overall (29.02 million), and CBS is expected to finish on top for the week by that measure.

Another ABC soph Sunday skein, "Grey's Anatomy," followed at 10 with big numbers (prelim 8.6/21 in 18-49, 19.5 million), making it easily the week's top-rated 10 o'clock drama in 18-49. This is a strong start for a show that aired only nine times last season but quickly emerged a viewer favorite, consistently holding on to a big chunk of its "DH" lead-in.

And "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" launched its third season with back-to-back episodes, including its regular-slot 8 o'clock seg that easily led in key categories (prelim 6.8/16 in 18-49, 16.3 million).

ABC enjoyed its biggest season-opening Sunday in 10 years, delivering a 19 share in the key 18-49, 25-54 and 18-34 breakdowns and averaging 18.4 million viewers overall.

CBS was a distant second but opened the night strongly with a 53-minute NFL overrun that should come in with at least a 7.5 rating in 18-49. New England Patriots-Pittsburgh Steelers nail-biter earned a 14.0/26 overnight Nielsen household rating, including a 52 share in Boston and a 70 share in Pittsburgh.

Prelim ratings for the Eye's Sunday series "60 Minutes" and "Cold Case" were unreliable due to late starts in much of the country.

But it's clear that America has had enough of Martha Stewart: Four days after her version of "The Apprentice" opened with a thud on NBC, CBS struck out with its original movie "Martha Behind Bars" (roughly 2.1/5 in 18-49, 7.7 million viewers overall).

Fox's comedy anchors "The Simpsons" at 8 (prelim 5.0/12 in 18-49, 10.2 million) and "Family Guy" at 9 (prelim 4.6/10 in 18-49, 9.0 million). were solid despite facing premieres. New 8:30 laffer "The War at Home" (prelim 3.8/9, 8.0 million) held 76% of its "Simpsons" 18-49 lead-in (down from last week's 85%) opposite the big conclusion of ABC's "Home Edition."

NBC was weak at 8 with the season preem of "West Wing" on its new night (prelim 2.4/6 in 18-49, 8.9 million viewers overall) before picking up some with "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (3.0/7 in 18-49, 10.3 million viewers) and "Crossing Jordan" (3.7/9 in 18-49, 13.2 million).

It's possible that many "Wing" fans didn't know of the timeslot switch, since NBC only began airing repeats in the hour a couple of weeks ago.

The WB did OK at 8 with the season preem of "Charmed" (prelim 1.8/4 in 18-49, 4.0 million) but fell off quite a bit at 9 with "Blue Collar TV" (prelim 1.1/2, 2.7 million).