• by Wayne Friedman , July 24, 2007

Fox extends its record streak from the regular season into the summer. The network has now won 24 weeks in a row among 18-49 viewers--the most for any network since 1996.

This summer, the network has more reason to extend its brand--with "The Simpsons Movie" theatrical release set to debut this weekend. The film is a logical extension of its two-decade-long hit show.

On Sunday, Fox ran a mini-marathon of four "Simpsons" episodes in a row--all to hype the movie's opening. "The Simpsons" block averaged a 2.7, with the 9 p.m. hour grabbing a better 3.0 rating. As a result, Fox easily won another 18-49 night with a 2.1 rating/5 share.

The rest of the networks were in mostly re-run mode with only one reality show in the mix--that of CBS' "Big Brother" at 8 p.m., which earned a 2.4 rating among 18-49 viewers.

The only other shows to garner higher than a 2 rating were two other shows at 8 p.m.: an ABC rerun of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," which grabbed a 2.4, and NBC's "Dateline," which took in a 2.2 rating. Still, no other networks could get over the 2 rating line for the night. NBC came in at second place with a 1.8/6; CBS was third at 1.7/5; ABC was next at a 1.5/5; Univision was fifth at 0.8/2; and CW came in sixth at 0.5/2.