• by Wayne Friedman , March 9, 2009

Virtually every broadcast network seemed to have something to crow about on Sunday.

ABC won the night with a Nielsen preliminary 3.3 rating/9 share among 18-49 viewers--but it wasn't a dominating win. "Desperate Housewives" scored the best program numbers of the night with a 4.6/11 among 18-49 viewers, but it was way off its seasonal average.

"Housewives" had new competition for the night. The second episode of "Celebrity Apprentice" took a bite out of its usual ratings take; "Apprentice" earned a 2.9/7 at 9 p.m. The show, along with Fox's "Family Guy, ganged up on "Housewives" to pull down its numbers. "Guy" had a strong 3.7/9 against 18-49 viewers.

Where "Housewives" had top honors on the night among 18-49 viewers, "Family Guy" took top honors among 18-34 viewers by almost the same numbers: a 4.5/12. "Housewives" earned a 3.6/9 against the younger 18-34 crowd.

CBS was second for the night overall to ABC with a 2.6/7. It was fairly consistent between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.--with a 3.0/8 for "Amazing Race" and a 3.0/7 for "Cold Case."

NBC saw its two-hour "Celebrity Apprentice" with lower numbers in its second week, averaging a 3.2 rating down from a 3.8. But considering that "Housewives" offered a new original episode this week, that's not bad. NBC had a 2.4/7 among 18-4 viewers. It did better among 18-34 viewers, with a 2.6/8.

Fox was behind NBC with a 2.3/6 in the 18-49 demo. Game show "Hole in the Wall" at 7 p.m. hit a low 1.2 rating/4 share--the lowest-rated program among 18-49 viewers for the big four networks. NBC's "Saturday Night Live" clip show wasn't that far from the bottom--also at 7 p.m., with a 1.3/4.

Univision had a 1.2/3 among 18-49 viewers for the night. The CW only managed a 0.2/1, thanks to a "Jericho" rerun and "Easy Money" movie.