Whether one wants to blame President’s Day weekend, the NBA All-Star Game or simply decreasing interest in the programming, virtually nothing on network television performed up to par Sunday night.
For “Desperate Housewives,” that meant landing at a mere 3.1 with 10.48 million viewers. A gain from last week’s head-to-head showdown with the Grammys, that number is still quite disappointing for a once-dominant series.
The soft “Housewives” performance allowed FOX’s “Family Guy” to win the night. With the network’s animated block down in buzz and likely victimized, to a degree, by the NBA All-Star Game, the flagship series only mustered a 3.3 with 6.56 million, but it is hard to complain about a nightly victory for the veteran comedy. FOX also offered “American Dad” (2.0 rating with 4.27 million), “The Simpsons” (2.8, 6.35 million), “Bob’s Burgers” (2.2, 4.87 million) and “The Cleveland Show” (2.6, 5.42 million).
ABC, meanwhile, book-ended “Housewives” with “AFHV” (1.9, 8.11 million), “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” (2.4, 9.53 million) and “Brothers & Sisters” (1.9, 6.94 million).
After an episode of “Dateline” (.8, 4.68 million) and an old “SNL” special, NBC delivered “Saturday Night Live: Backstage” to a 2.1 rating with 6.40 million viewers.
