Sunday Night Ratings: ONCE UPON A TIME & DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES Up, Modest Debut For GCB

ARMY WIVES returned with two episodes on Sunday night, GCB debuted and new shows aired all over the tube. But how did they do in the Nielsen ratings? Below is a roundup of ratings reports we have so far.

From CBS:
THE GOOD WIFE was first in households (6.3/09), viewers (9.71m) while averaging 2.7/06 in adults 25-54 and 1.8/04 in adults 18-49.

From ABC:
In Adults 18-49, the Net matched its top-rated Sunday with regular programming in 1 year – since 3/6/11.

ONCE UPON A TIME (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
Gaining ground for its 2nd straight telecast (coming off a pre-emption the prior week for the “Oscars”), ABC’s ONCE UPON A TIME won the 8 o’clock hour in viewers (10.6 million) and young adults (3.4/9) to finish as Sunday’s No. 1 broadcast show among Adults 18-49. Dominating from 8:00-9:00 p.m. with young adults, ABC’s ONCE UPON A TIME outran CBS’ THE AMAZING RACE by 21% (2.8/7) and Fox’s animated comedies by 48% (THE SIMPSONS/NAPOLEON DYNAMITE = 2.3/6).

Growing its numbers for its 2nd telecast in a row, ONCE UPON A TIME was up over its last airing two weeks ago by 8% in Total Viewers and by 10% in Adults 18-49 to mark its best performance since the end of January – since 1/29/12.

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Up over its most-recent airing two weeks ago in viewers (+8%) and young adults (+14%), ABC’s DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (2.5/6) led the pack in the 9 o’clock hour with young adults (tied w/Fox’s comedies), outpacing the first hour of NBC’s CELEBRITY APPRENTICE by 14% (2.2/5) and CBS’ THE GOOD WIFE by 39% (1.8/4).

HOUSEWIVES drew its biggest audience in 8 weeks (8.2 million) and hit a 6-week high with young adults - since 1/8/12 and 1/22/12, respectively.

“GCB” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
Exhibiting strong retention of its HOUSEWIVES lead-in (93% in viewers/88% in young adults) during the 10 o’clock hour, ABC’s series debut of “GCB” finished a solid No. 2 in its slot against established competition, drawing 9% more viewers than the second half of NBC’s 2-hour CELEBRITY APPRENTICE (7.6 million vs. 7.0 million) and beating out CBS’ veteran CSI: MIAMI by 10% in Adults 18-49 (2.2/6 vs. 2.0/5). The new ABC drama ranked No. 1 in its time period with Adults 18-34 and across all key Women (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54).

In viewers and young adults, “GCB” produced a 5-month high for ABC with regular programming in the time period – since 10/2/11.

The new drama improved its hour year to year, outperforming BROTHERS & SISTERS on the same night last year (7.4 million and 2.1/6 on 3/6/11) in both viewers (+3%) and young adults (+5%).

Cable Ratings:
THE WALKING DEAD was the top cable series with a 3.5 Adults 18-49 ratings (6.771 million total viewers). The two hour season premiere of ARMY WIVES was number four with a 1.2 (3.626 million total viewers).