Alphabet still souped up

Auds band to 'Brothers'

By RICK KISSELL

Season preem of ABC's 'Desperate Housewives' led its hour with 23.9 million viewers, down about 20% from last year.

The Eye's 'Without a Trace' bowed on its new night to 17.4 million viewers, down from its year-ago post-``CSI'' preem.

It lost its hottest piece when "Grey's Anatomy" moved to Thursday, but ABC's Sunday lineup again looks tough to beat after opening with a sizable ratings victory in key demos during the season's first week.

The Alphabet also launched "Brothers & Sisters" to good numbers, while CBS enjoyed success from 9 to 11 with veteran crime dramas in place of its long-running movie franchise.

Winning night will help ABC capture the opening week of the season in adults 18-49 for a second straight season -- impressive since it no longer has "Monday Night Football" and hit drama "Lost" has yet to bow.

Nielsen will issue premiere week averages today, but the Alphabet is expected to prevail with roughly a 4.4 rating to a 3.9 for both CBS and NBC and a 3.0 for Fox. ABC and CBS look to be neck and neck for the 25-54 lead, with the Eye winning as usual in total viewers.

According to prelim Nielsen nationals for Sunday, "Desperate Housewives" (9.5 rating/21 share in adults 18-49, 23.9 million viewers overall) easily led the 9 o'clock hour for ABC but was down about 20% from last year. It performed more as it did last spring and came in above its May sweeps time-period average.

"Housewives" led into a nice number for the premiere of family drama "Brothers & Sisters" (6.2/15 in 18-49, 16.1 million viewers overall), which led at 10 in key demos. Despite falloff on the half-hour, "Brothers" still enjoyed a demo lead-in at 10:30 and becomes the first rookie show to win its timeslot in 18-49.

ABC also was sturdy at 8 with a slot victory for the season premiere of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (prelim 6.3/15 in 18-49, 17.2 million viewers overall), which cut into competing unscripted skein "Amazing Race" on CBS (prelim 3.5/9 in 18-49, 10.8 million).

The Eye had a good showing from 9 to 11 p.m. with returning dramas "Cold Case" at a new time (prelim 4.0/9 in 18-49, 15.9 million viewers overall) and "Without a Trace" at 10 on its new night (prelim 4.8/12 in 18-49, 17.4 million viewers overall). Tandem was up about 65% in both 18-49 and 25-54 vs. the net's seasonlong movie average in the timeslot a year ago.

While "Trace" was down as expected from its post-"CSI" preem of a year ago, it led its hour in total viewers. And premiere was the best to date for the fourth-year "Cold Case."

Fox led the night's opening hour with an NFL overrun and then was competitive with its comedies "The Simpsons" (prelim 4.8/12 in 18-49, 9.7 million), "American Dad" (prelim 4.3/10 in 18-49, 8.4 million) and "Family Guy" (prelim 4.7/11 in 18-49, 9.7 million) before falling off sharply at 9:30 with "The War at Home" (prelim 3.2/7 in 18-49, 6.6 million).

Reliable prelims weren't available for NBC's live coverage of the NFL game between the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots, but the contest should come in with roughly a 6.0 demo rating and 15.5 million viewers overall. When nationals come in, NBC is expected to double what it did in 18-49 on the opening Sunday of last season.

The CW won't premiere its entire Sunday lineup until next week, but the net averaged a 1.1/3 in 18-49 and 2.5 million viewers overall for its repeats of "Everybody Hates Chris" and "America's Next Top Model."