The women of Wisteria Lane got a new danger, and it wasn't from a murderous neighbor or a psycho in someone's basement. Desperate Housewives had to go up against something far scarier Sunday night: HBO's mafia hit The Sopranos.
Housewives normally averages a 9.9 rating this season, but last night's episode was down more than 10 percent at an 8.8. Housewives improved in its second half hour, from an 8.6 to a 9.0, which could be sign that first-time The Sopranos viewers, lured by a huge ad campaign heralding the return of the show, turned away from the dark sixth season premiere in which one man was hit by a car, one man was assassinated, and one man hung himself.
When Sopranos wrapped its fifth season 18 months ago, Housewives hadn't yet premiered. In that time, Desperate Housewives has become one of TV's top-rated shows, regularly dominating Sunday nights. HBO actually had trouble keeping up, with shows like Deadwood, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Six Feet Under seeing ratings decline, and Lisa Kudrow's comedy The Comeback was axed after a single season.
Housewives ran into trouble early this season when viewers complained the show had lost its way and that scripts lacked chemistry. Series creator Marc Cherry assured fans that he was closely monitoring quality control, but Housewives has seen its ratings erode 27 percent from its fall premiere.
Still, the show, coupled with Grey's Anatomy, towered over the competition, giving ABC an easy win for the night. Among the 18-49 demographic, ABC received a 7.4 rating and an 18 share, Fox was second at 3.8/9, CBS third at 2.7/7, NBC fourth at 2.6/6, Univision fifth at 2.1/5 and WB sixth at 0.7/2.
Comments (3)
I don't understand how the article doesn't mention how The Sopranos' ratings have been down (I think it was 25%) from last season, and how Desperate Housewives/Grey's Anatomy are still blasting it out of the water. This article isn't very good.
Could've been worse. For any of the shows (Big Love, Grey's, DH, Sopranos).
Ah, that's not good news. At all.