• by Wayne Friedman , May 1, 2007

There is good news for top broadcast network shows this season--and it started on Sunday.

After weeks of lower ratings for major broadcast shows, including ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," CBS' "CSI," Fox's "American Idol" and "24," one heavyweight, "Desperate Housewives," is headed--for the time being--back up. It earned a Nielsen preliminary 6.6 rating--a 10% improvement over the week before--and a big plug for the denizens of Wisteria Lane.

Program analysts believe "Housewives" is regaining momentum because of its recently run original episodes, rather than airing repeats. Critics have stepped up complaints when dramas go into repeats, since audiences look elsewhere to be entertained. Sometimes they don't come back.

"Desperate" gave ABC a solid but still not very high 4.4 rating/13 share for the night--its second big win of the May sweeps, having won last Thursday. ABC also won all four prime-time hours on Sunday. ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" was the second top-rated show of the evening with a 4.4 rating. ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" was third with a 3.8.

Still, it's irksome to media analysts that there wasn't much competition for ABC's "Housewives." The highest non-ABC show was a Fox hour of "The Simpsons." It got a 3.7.

NBC started its experiment with some theatrical movies, giving its reality block a rest in May. "Along Came Polly" didn't come along that fast for NBC, earning a lowly 1.7 rating among 18-49 viewers. CBS' best came from "Without a Trace" at 10 p.m. with a 3.2, and "The Amazing Race" with a 3.0 at 8 p.m.

Overall, Fox was second at 3.1/9. Then CBS at a 2.7/8; NBC was fourth, with 1.7/5; Univision earned a 1.1/3; and CW was last, a 0.7/2.