The onset of daylight-saving time resulted in lower ratings on the broadcast networks Sunday night, with ABC's second week of "Oprah's Big Give" declining by more than 20% but still winning its timeslot. Nielsen reports that primetime viewership among adults under 50 was down 6% vs. the previous Sunday, peaking with a 12% falloff in the 7:30 half-hour.
The Alphabet network carried the night overall among young adults, winning from start to finish with "America's Funniest Home Videos" (1.9/6 in 18-49, 6.7 million viewers overall), "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (4.0/11 in 18-49, 12.4 million viewers overall), "Oprah's Big Give" (projected 4.1/11 in 18-49, 11.9 million viewers overall from 9 to 10:02 p.m.) and "Here Come the Newlyweds" (projected 3.5/9 in 18-49, 8.7 million viewers overall).
"Home Edition" and "Oprah's Big Give" were both down about 23% from the previous week, while "Newlyweds" dipped by a more modest 15%.
Fox ran second on the night, although with below-average results for "The Simpsons" at 8 o'clock (3.5/10 in 18-49, 7.3 million viewers overall). The toon vet still earned a share of the 18-49 lead, but the net's "King of the Hill" fell off some at 8:30 (3.0/8 in 18-49, 6.2 million viewers overall). Following a repeat "Family Guy" at 9 p.m. (3.7/9 in 18-49, 7.5 million viewers overall), the second episode of laffer "Unhitched" (2.6/6 in 18-49, 5.2 million viewers overall) was in line with the previous week's premiere score.
NBC couldn't get a whole lot going early with its two-hour repeat spec "100 Most Outrageous Moments" (2.0/6 in 18-49, 7.8 million viewers overall), although it rose to a 2.8/7 in the demo and 10.6 million viewers overall in its final half-hour. A repeat of "Law & Order" placed third at 9 o'clock (1.8/4 in 18-49, 7.0 million viewers overall), and a rebroadcast of "Law & Order: SVU" moved up to second at 10 p.m. (2.2/6 in 18-49, 8.5 million viewers overall).
At CBS, "60 Minutes" (1.8/6 in 18-49, 11.6 million viewers overall) led the opening hour in adults 25-54 and total viewers, but the net placed third in key demos the rest of the way with "Big Brother" (2.2/6 in 18-49, 6.5 million viewers overall), a repeat "Cold Case" (1.8/4 in 18-49, 7.9 million viewers overall) and another episode of Showtime series "Dexter" (1.9/5 in 18-49, 6.6 million viewers overall).
Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: ABC, 3.4/9; Fox, 2.6/7; NBC, 2.0/5; CBS, 1.9/5; Univision, 1.4/4; CW, 0.5/1.
In total viewers: ABC, 9.9 million; CBS, 8.2 million; NBC, 7.7 million; Fox, 5.3 million; Univision, 3.3 million; CW, 1.2 million.
Contact Rick Kissell at
rick.kissell@variety.com