• by Wayne Friedman , March 16, 2009

NBC's "Kings" turned into some weak pawns for its Sunday night premiere, registering crushingly low ratings.

Just when you thought premieres of new scripted broadcast TV series couldn't get any worse, NBC debuted the allegory sci-fi series to an eye-opening Nielsen preliminary 1.6 rating/4 share among 18-49 viewers and 6 million total viewers overall during the 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. period.

Networks have started up reality shows to such modest levels before. But because of the higher cost of scripted shows--some $3.0 million to $3.5 million an episode--they are typically positioned to get off to a better start, in terms of more on-air marketing dollars.

Perhaps program testing gave NBC a better indication of where the show would land. Originally, it was slated for a high-profile Thursday night time slot. But recently, NBC switched gears and decided that a somewhat less competitive 8 p.m. Sunday time period was the right move.

At a 9 p.m. premiere, however, "Kings" did run into the heart of a typical Sunday evening: ABC's "Desperate Housewives," Fox's "Family Guy" and CBS' "Cold Case."

"Housewives" grabbed the best numbers for a show on Sunday night at 5.0/12--down a bit from its season average but up versus its 4.7/11 from the week before. Fox's "Family Guy" was next from 9 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. with a 3.6/9 among 18-49 viewers. CBS' "Cold Case" earned a 3.0/7, and Fox's 9:30 to 10 p.m. half-hour animated comedy "American Dad" took a 2.9/7.

NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice" slipped again from its week-ago performance--but this time it was for just an hour-long episode, 10 p.m. to 11 p.m., instead of its usual two-hour 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. allotment. "Apprentice" was at a 2.8/7 from a 3.2/8 the previous week. ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" improved to a 3.8/10, winning the time period again--and up from a 3.4/9 the week before.

Earlier in the evening, both CBS' "Amazing Race" and ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" again fought hard for top honors. A week ago, "Race" had a 3.1/8 to "Makeover"'s 2.9/8.

CW was in movie mode for the night. This week, "Moonstruck" delivered the same results as "Easy Money" did the week before: a 0.2/1 among 18-49 viewers, but slightly better with all viewers, at 1,047,200 to 910,000.

ABC again got top honors for the night overall, with a 3.5/9 among 18-49 viewers--slightly better than a week ago. CBS was next at a 2.7/7; Fox earned a 2.2/6; NBC posted a 1.8/5; Univision took a 1.1/3; and CW finished with a 0.2/1.