• by Wayne Friedman , December 4, 2007

ABC took back the night--Sunday night.

Its "Desperate Housewives" ripped up the prime-time schedule with its big, much-touted tornado-laden episode, posting a Nielsen preliminary 7.7 rating/17 share in adults 18-49, its best numbers in almost a year.

The wingmen of "Housewives"--"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and "Brothers & Sisters"--delivered more or less their standard ratings. "Makeover" had a 4.9/11, and "Brothers" had a 4.8/12. For the night, ABC averaged a 4.9/12, tops among all networks.

NBC offered up a solid--but not spectacular--"Sunday Night Football" game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals, coming in with a 5.6 rating. For the night, NBC grabbed a second-place spot with a 4.4/11.

Fox was right behind with a 4.3/10, helped by a 6.0 rating from a NFL football game overrun. After this, its a "Simpsons" repeat earned a nice 4.3 rating at 8:30 p.m. In prepping for its Bowl Championship Series of college football games later in the month, the net's "BCS Selection Show" took a 3.7 at 8 p.m.

CBS' best came from its always-solid "Amazing Race," which pulled in a 3.4/8 rating. "60 Minutes" at 7 p.m. earned a 2.9/8. From 9 to 11 p.m., the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie "Pictures of Hollis Woods" took a 2.2/5. CBS had a 2.7/6 overall.

CW limped in next--way off pace with a 0.4/1 in 18-49 viewers. "Life is Wild" took a 0.4 at 8 p.m. A repeat of "America's Next Top Model" at 9 p.m. had a 0.6.