"Family Guy" followed at 9, dropping 6 percent for a 3.0/7 and 5.7 million total viewers, while "American Dad" rounded out the night with a loss, dropping 7 percent from its last original airing five weeks ago to a 2.5/6 and 4.7 million total viewers.
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Two weeks after its series premiere, ABC's fairytale drama "Once Upon a Time" continued to perform strongly Sunday night, while NBC scored an overall ratings win due, as usual, to "Sunday Night Football," according to preliminary numbers.
That was the end of the good news for the network, with its block of animated series suffering modest to significant decreases. "The Simpsons" at 8 was down 8 percent from last week's "Treehouse of Horror" episode, taking a 3.7/9 and 7.9 million total viewers. The new Jonah Hill series "Allen Gregory" at 8:30, which had a soft series premiere last week, slipped 13 percent for a 2.1/5 and 4.3 million total viewers.
The network hit a bright spot with "The Good Wife" at 9, which inched up 5 percent for a 2.1/5 and 8.9 million total viewers, while "CSI: Miami" closed out the night with another decrease, hitting a series low with a 1.9/5 and 8.5 million total viewers. (It's worth noting that CBS' primetime slate started a half hour late last week, due to NFL overrun.)
Sunday's episode, which featured a tribute to correspondent Andy Rooney, who died last week, posted a 2.2 rating/6 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, with 13.7 million total viewers. "The Amazing Race" also took a hit, though not as dramatically, dropping 13 percent to a 2.6/6 and 9.9 million total viewers.
Though skewed by local NFL overrun until 7:30 p.m., through about 13 percent of the country, CBS appears to have suffered a series of losses Sunday night, starting with "60 Minutes" at 7, which tumbled 46 percent from last week -- which, in fairness, had gotten an 83 percent bump thanks to its interviews with the family of convicted swindler Bernie Madoff.
Fox had the highest-rated time slot Sunday night, with football overrun from the San Francisco Giants/New England Patriots game at 7, which posted a 9.6/25 and 25.9 million total viewers (which also made it the most-watched programing of the night, though the numbers are approximate due to the nature of live sports). The postgame show "The O.T." followed at 7:30, scoring a 6.4/16 -- which is, again, approximate -- and 16.4 million total viewers.
NBC's night kicked off with three continuous installments of "Football Night in America," the first of which at 7 scored a 2.0/5 and 6.2 million total viewers. The 7:30 installment drew a 3.4/8 with 9.4 million total viewers, while the third episode at 8 grabbed a 6.1/14 and 16.6 million total viewers. The Baltimore Ravens/Pittsburgh Steelers game followed from 8:30 to 11, pulling a 7.9/18 and 19.6 million total viewers. The network averaged a 6.3/15 for the night's highest overall rating, and 16.3 million total viewers, which also made it the most-watched network of the night.
ABC's night began with a "Once Upon a Time" repeat at 7, followed by a new episode at 8, which saw a slight 5 percent downturn from last week with a 3.7/9 and 11.3 million total viewers. "Desperate Housewives" at 9 dropped 10 percent, taking a 2.8/6 and 8.6 million total viewers, while "Pan Am" ran flat with last week, tying its series low with a 1.8/4 and 5.2 million total viewers.