TV Ratings: "Housewives" Desperate No More

ABC won the first Sunday night of this year's May sweeps courtesy of its hit drama "Desperate Housewives." Although the dramedy remains about 5 million viewers down from last year, it was the most watched telecast of the evening with 16,85 million viewers, adding a million to last week's figures.

This was also Marc Cherry-penned series' best outing since Rex Van De Kamp-narrated episode on March 4.

Its lead-out "Brothers & Sisters" also did respectable business with a typical 11,52 million viewers. More importantly, the family drama bested CBS' "Without a Trace" by quite a wide margin in the crucial 18-49 demo (4.4 vs. 3.2.)

Theatricals no longer belong on broadcast television. Gone are the days when the only alternative to seeing a movie on a big screen was premium cable and VHS rental. This was evident in poor ratings for NBC's Sunday Night Movie "Along Came Polly" starring Jennifer Aniston (4,97 million viewers from 9-11 p.m.)

Earlier in the evening ABC's "Extreme Makeover" lost a million viewers, but nevertheless won the battle of 8 p.m. shows with 10,32 million.

"Amazing Race" on CBS scored 9,52 million, "Dateline" on NBC pulled in 9,3 million and two episodes of FOX's "The Simpsons" were left behind in the 4th place with 7,85 million.

"60 Minutes" was the top 7 p.m. show with 10,77 million viewers.

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