Fox's toon lineup still a ratings winner

CBS wins most viewers with '60 Minutes'

By RICK KISSELL

Sunday continues to be a very quiet night in the summer for the broadcast nets, with only Fox able to attract 5 percent of the available young-adult audience. CBS, with its older-skewing lineup, was easily the most watched net on the night, paced by "60 Minutes."

According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, the top programs of the evening among young adults were repeats of Fox's animated comedies: "Family Guy" at 9 p.m. (2.1 rating/7 share in adults 18-49, 4.4 million viewers overall), a special "The Simpsons" at 9:30 p.m. (2.0/6 in 18-49, 4.2 million viewers overall), "The Simpsons" in its regular 8 o'clock slot (1.7/6 in 18-49, 3.7 million viewers overall) and "King of the Hill" at 8:30 p.m. (1.5/5 in 18-49, 3.3 million viewers overall).

CBS, which tied with NBC for runner-up in 18-49 among the broadcasters, received a timeslot-winning score from "60 Minutes" (1.2/5 in 18-49, 8.2 million viewers overall), which was the night's most-watched program. It was followed by a repeat of "Million Dollar Password" in its final week in the 8 o'clock hour (0.9/3 in 18-49, 6.7 million viewers overall) and encores of crime dramas "Cold Case" (1.1/3 in 18-49, 7.0 million viewers overall) and "Without a Trace" (1.1/3 in 18-49, 6.6 million viewers overall).

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NBC hung in there with firstrun installments of newsmag "Dateline" (1.0/4 in 18-49, 4.6 million viewers overall) and drama "Merlin" (1.0/4 in 18-49, 4.3 million viewers overall) and a rebroadcast of theatrical film "The Bourne Supremacy" (1.2/4 in 18-49, 4.1 million viewers overall); the latter stood as the top broadcast performer among young adults in the 10 o'clock hour.

ABC's best numbers on an overall sluggish night came from alternative series "America's Funniest Home Videos" (1.0/4 in 18-49, 4.3 million viewers overall), "Just for Laughs" (1.0/4 in 18-49, 4.1 million viewers overall) and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (1.0/3 in 18-49, 3.8 million viewers overall). The net, though, didn't get much out of repeats of its serialized dramas "Desperate Housewives" (0.6/2 in 18-49, 2.2 million viewers overall) and "Brothers & Sisters" (0.5/2 in 18-49, 2.0 million viewers overall).

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 1.5/5; CBS and NBC, 1.1/4; ABC and Univision, 0.8/3; CW, 0.3/1.

In total viewers: CBS, 7.1 million; NBC, 4.3 million; Fox, 3.2 million; ABC, 3.1 million; Univision, 2.0 million; CW, 1.1 million.