TV Ratings: Sunday (April 13, 2008)

Spring is here and, as we had already seen last year, that means the ratings are down. How did the return of "Desperate Housewives" do combined with an all-new "Eli Stone"?

The ladies of Wisteria Lane scored 16 million viewers on Sunday night, which is a season low for the series that averaged almost 20 million pairs of eyeballs last fall.

These ratings are however on a par with last year's spring figures. But can we really blame the descent on the spring; is it the show's absence due to the writers' strike; or perhaps some people living under a rock not knowing a new episode was on?

A part of the problem may also lie in the show's softer lead-in, as ABC aired an all-new "Oprah's Big Give" instead of the hit reality series "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" which normally scores about 14 million viewers.

Meanwhile, although "Housewives" helped "Eli Stone" generate an additional 2 million viewers (on top of its regular Thursday night audience) the show's retention rate of less than 60% is somewhat disappointing.

Scroll down for ratings. Please bear in mind CBS' figures are approximate due to "The Masters" overrun.

ABC:
7:00pm America's Funniest Home Videos (7.53 million)
8:00pm Oprah's Big Give (8.88 million)
9:00pm Desperate Housewives (16.00 million)
10:02pm Eli Stone (9.19 million)

CBS:
7:00pm 60 Minutes (12.12 million)
8:00pm Big Brother 9 (9.27 million)
9:00pm Cold Case (8.73 million)
10:00pm Dexter (R) (7.41 million)

NBC:
7:00pm Dateline (6.13 million)
8:00pm Monk (R) (5.19 million)
9:00pm Psych (R) (4.23 million)
10:00pm Law & Order: SVU (R) (5.46 million)

Fox:
7:00pm King of the Hill (R) (2.43 million)
7:30pm American Dad (R) (3.13 million)
8:00pm The Simpsons (6.90 million)
8:30pm King of the Hill (6.01 million)
9:00pm Family Guy (R) (6.54 million)
9:30pm American Dad (R) (5.43 million)

CW:
7:00pm America's Next Top Model (R) (1.00 million)
8:00pm Everybody Hates Chris (1.28 million)
8:30pm Aliens in America (R) (1.14 million)
9:00pm The Game (1.50 million)
9:30pm Girlfriends (R) (1.14 million)

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