NO DESPERATION
FOR ABC SUNDAYS

"Desperate Housewives" may be down, but it is still the most watched show on Sunday nights and it helped ABC win the night across most of the key demos.

Over 21 million people tuned in to see Bree Van De Kamp get married, which is about 10% less than a week ago, but season premieres always deliver more audience starved for fresh episodes after a long summer filled with reruns and underwhelming reality.

"Brothers and Sisters" was also down, but again not more than about 10% which is in line with network expectations.

The buzz is that the show gets better beyond the pilot, so that will hopefully help Calista Flockhart's and the gang. Will it however gradually grow into a monster hit as "Grey's Anatomy" did last year in the same slot? I seriously doubt that.

Once again season premieres on The CW were below UPN average from last season. Dawn Ostroff - that's the bad karma you get for cancelling "Everwood".