"Sunday Night Football" surged a remarkable 78 percent Sunday night, while Fox's animated slate, led by "The Simpsons"' Treehouse of Horror episode, also showed strong gains, according to preliminary numbers.
The game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles on NBC at 8:30 posted an 8.2 rating/19 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, with 20.1 million total viewers. Combined with three concurrent episodes of "Football Night in America" from 7 to 8:30, the network easily took an overall win for the night, posting an average 6.7/16 in the demo and 16.7 million total viewers.
At Fox, the night kicked off with repeats of "The Cleveland Show" and "The Simpsons," followed by a new "Simpsons" at 8, which showed a 33 percent leap over its last original airing four weeks ago with a 4.0/10 in the demo and 8 million total viewers. The series premiere of Jonah Hill's new animated offering "Allen Gregory" followed at 8:30, drawing a 2.4/6 in the demo and 4.7 million total viewers. "Family Guy" at 9 was down 9 percent compared to its last original airing four weeks ago, drawing a 3.2/7 in the demo and 5.9 million total viewers, while a repeat of "The Cleveland Show" rounded out the night at 9:30.
ABC's night began with a repeat of "Once Upon a Time" at 7, followed by a new episode at 8, which dipped slightly from its series premiere last week but still scored a strong 3.9/9 in the demo and 11.6 million total viewers. "Desperate Housewives" the following hour posted a 3.1/7 in the demo with 9.2 million total viewers, while the new series "Pan Am" grew 6 percent for a 1.9/5 in the demo and 5.5 million total viewers.
CBS started off with overrun from the New England Patriots-Pittsburgh Steelers game at 7, which was actually the night's top-rated and most-watched bit of programming, taking a 9.1/25 in the demo and 27.9 million total viewers. That helped push "60 Minutes" at 7:30 to an 83 percent increase with a 4.2/11 in the demo and 18.2 million total viewers, though due to the nature of live sports ratings that number is very approximate. "The Amazing Race" from 8:30 to 9:30 was up 7 percent witha 2.9/7 in the demo and 10.9 million total viewers. "The Good Wife" at 9:30 tied with last week's season low, drawing a 2.0/5 in the demo and 10.1 million total viewers. "CSI: Miami" closed the night at 10:30 down 5 percent with a 2.0/5 in the demo and 9.4 million total viewers.
