ABC tops Easter Sunday

Ratings Flash - Rick Kissell

By RICK KISSELL

On a night when viewing levels were depressed some by Easter celebrations, ABC cruised to victory in key demos on Sunday with original episodes of its entire lineup.

According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, after "America's Funniest Home Videos" (2.3 rating/8 share in adults 18-49, 7.6 million viewers overall) opened with a second-place 18-49 finish, ABC won the rest of the way with "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (4.2/12 in 18-49, 12.0 million viewers overall), "Desperate Housewives" (6.0/15 in 18-49, 15.7 million viewers overall) and "Brothers & Sisters" (4.1/11 in 18-49, 11.0 million viewers overall). "Desperate" was easily the night's top show but logged its lowest firstrun score to date, no doubt also impacted by the return of HBO's "The Sopranos," ratings for which will be issued on Tuesday.

At CBS, following final-round coverage of golf's The Masters, "60 Minutes" won the 7 o'clock hour (2.6/9 in 18-49, 12.9 million viewers overall), and the net then ran second in 18-49 with "Amazing Race" (2.9/8 in 18-49, 9.2 million viewers overall), "Cold Case" (2.8/7 in 18-49, 11.5 million viewers overall) and "Without a Trace" (3.6/9 in 18-49, 14.1 million viewers overall). "Trace" moved into a tie for the adults 25-54 lead with ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" (4.7/11) while winning the 10 o'clock as usual in total viewers.

As for the Masters, Sunday's action averaged a 9.1 household rating/21 share in Nielsen's metered-market overnights, up slightly from last year (9.0/19) and a healthy 25% rise over the last time the final round was played on Easter Sunday (7.3/18 in 2004).

NBC was slow out of the gate with a two-hour "Dateline" (1.5/5 in 18-49, 6.4 million viewers overall) before picking up some with "Deal or No Deal" (2.8/7 in 18-49, 10.0 million viewers overall) and "The Apprentice: Los Angeles" (2.6/7 in 18-49, 6.7 million viewers overall). All-repeat Fox, meanwhile, was paced by "Family Guy" at 9 o'clock (2.5/6 in 18-49, 5.5 million viewers overall).

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: ABC, 4.2/11; CBS, 2.9/8; NBC, 2.1/6; Fox, 1.9/5; Univision, 1.2/3; CW, 0.6/2.

In total viewers: CBS, 11.9 million; ABC, 11.6 million; NBC, 7.4 million; Fox, 4.1 million; Univision, 2.7 million; CW, 1.5 million.