Fox's Animation Domination lived up to its name Sunday, thanks to the addition of "The Cleveland Show," while ABC's Sunday sudsers struggled as "Desperate Housewives" took a big dip with its sixth season opener.
Here's a first look at the fast national Nielsen numbers:
--Might as well be the first to use this cliche, but on its first outing, Fox's "Cleveland" rocked. The latest from the Seth MacFarlane factory earned a 4.9/12 in adults 18-49, and 9.4 million viewers, making it the top comedy debut of the season in the key demo.
"Cleveland" was particularly mighty with the under-35 crowd: It notched a massive 8.4/22 with men 18-34-- bigger than football on NBC.
Fox also scored with "Family Guy" (5.2/12), which benefited from its new lead-in to climb 16 percent over last fall's premiere. "The Simpsons" (4.2/12) was off 7 percent but last year benefited from a big NFL lead-in (and, oh, the show is celebrating its 75th year on the air, so erosion? Gonna happen.)
"American Dad" (3.6/9) lost some of its lead-in but was still up 13 percent vs. 2008.
The strong tune-in for "Cleveland" was no surprise: Pre-season surveys showed its target audience knew it was premiering and planned to watch (a k a "high intent to view"). Question now is whether the crowds return.
--Critics were kind to the season premiere of ABC's "Housewives," but viewers weren't (or maybe just chose to use their DVRs). "DH" (4.5/11, 13.23 million) dropped a big 37 percent (almost as much as the 40 percent decline for CBS's "CSI" Thursday.)
Still, ABC notes "DH" was the most-watched entertainment show of the night. And compared to its May sweeps average, the series was flat (it's the same argument CBS made last week after "CSI" took a tumble).
At 10 p.m., "Brothers and Sisters" (3.0/8, 9.33 million) suffered a similar 35 percent fall-off. From 7-9, "Extreme Makeover" (2.6/7, 8.9 million) was down much less.
--CBS numbers are hard to evaluate because of NFL overruns. But the two-hour "Amazing Race" premiere seemed in line with its 2008-09 performance.
--NBC had football and will likely win the night (though Fox will keep it close).
