• by Wayne Friedman , September 9, 2008

NBC picked up where it left off last season with strong results for its "Sunday Night Football" game.

With the Chicago Bears upsetting the Indianapolis Colts, NBC grabbed a healthy 6.7 rating/16 share among 18-49 viewers--a bit lower than its season debut game of a year ago, and down 4% from the Dallas Cowboys-New York Giants opener. NBC had no trouble winning the night with a 5.5/14.

One other new-season show start had some fair success--Fox's unscripted "Hole in the Wall," which grabbed a solid 3.5/9 among 18-49 viewers during the 8 p.m. hour. "Wall" came in second to NBC's football programming during the time period. The series moves to its permanent time slot Thursday at 8 p.m. next week, after another special preview on Tuesday.

Fox also got a healthy NFL boost early in the evening, a runover of an afternoon game--netting a 5.7/17, as well as a 3.2/10 for its "The O.T." post-football show. Fox came in second on the night with a 3.2/9.

CBS did well early in the day on Sunday. Its U.S. Open Tennis coverage of the women's final, which featured Serena Williams against Jelena Jankovic, averaged a 4.3 household rating/7 share--up a healthy 65%, in part due to higher Homes Using Television (HUTs) levels of Sunday versus Saturday, where the women's final has usually aired.

CBS also had its best NFL season opener in almost a decade on Sunday, thanks to the New York Jets-Miami Dolphins match, featuring the debut of Brett Favre--up 4% to an 11.0 household rating/24 share in preliminary ratings.

CBS' prime-time rating highlight came from a 2.7/7 from "Big Brother." CBS earned a 1.7/4 for the night.

ABC's best came from two repeats: "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and "America's Funniest Home Videos," which earned a 1.6/4 and a 1.5/5, respectively. That put ABC at a 1.4/4 for the night.

Univision and CW brought up the rear, with a 1.0/3 and a 0.7/2, respectively.