• by Wayne Friedman , November 14, 2006

ABC's "Desperate Housewives" is desperate no more. The show has had back-to-back weeks of 9.0 Nielsen ratings, thanks to a strong story line featuring hostages in a supermarket. The show had dipped to an 8.0 rating in one early-season episode.

Still, an NBC NFL game featuring two contending major-market teams--the New York Giants and the Chicago Bears--won the day. With a preliminary 5.8/14 for the evening, NBC squeaked by ABC, which had a 5.7/14.

Fox was third at 4.6/11, followed by CBS at 3.6/9 and Univision and the CW tied at 1.0/2.

NBC's final numbers on the NFL game were not available at press time. But estimates are that the Giants-Bears game took between 18 million and 19 million viewers. "Housewives" grabbed 22 million for the evening.

The NFL game was No. 1 in the 10 p.m. time slot, coming in with a preliminary 6.7 rating to ABC's "Brothers and Sisters" 5.2. CBS' "Without a Trace" was next with a 4.1.

Fox's prime time also benefited from prime-time football, due to an overrun early in the evening. During the 7 p.m. hour, it grabbed a 5.6 rating. That blew away the nearest competition by nearly three-and-a-half rating points.

Competition was closer in the 8 p.m. hour. NBC scored a 6.3 for a combination of its NFL pre-game show and its "Sunday Night Football" game. ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" was next at 5.4. Then came Fox's "The Simpsons" at a 5.2 and Fox' "American Dad" at a 3.9. CBS was behind Fox, with "Amazing Race" at 3.4.