ABC's 'Desperate Housewives' Ratings Up With a 'Bang', FOX's 'Vanished' Fizzles Out

The very special supermarket shoot-out episode of ABC's "Desperate Housewives" did not only return to season 1 glory creatively, but it also delivered sweet ratings for the ABC network as almost 23 million people tuned in to see who gets killed on Wisteria Lane.

"Bang" was the second most watched episode so far this season (only the season premiere did better) and the most watched program in America on Sunday. The show's lead-out "Brothers and Sisters" managed to keep only about 60% of that audience.

Also on Sunday, almost 20 million people tuned into NBC to see season-high game of "Sunday Night Football". Over on FOX, the annual "Simpsons Halloween Special" scored a little over 10 million viewers, down a million from last year.

CBS's reruns of crime dramas ruled the uneventful Saturday night. Its Friday night line-up also scored winning numbers as "Ghost Whisperer", "Close to Home" and "Numb3rs" all brought a little over 11 million viewers to the network.

As expected, the relocation of FOX's 'Vanished' proved to be a disaster. The abduction drama that ran on Mondays before FOX announced the move to Fridays following baseball play-offs premiered in August to almost 9 million viewers. It gradually lost about 3 million. Now, only 3,33 mil people tuned in to see Eddie Cibrian in the starring role (Gale Harold's character was killed off in a somewhat ridiculous cliffhanger at the end of episode 7).

FOX promised to keep the drama on the schedule through the final 13th installment in December.