• by Wayne Friedman , December 1, 2008

CBS proved to be the only gainer on Sunday versus its numbers the week before--all thanks to the NFL game early in the evening. CBS earned a Nielsen preliminary 4.1 rating/10 share among 18-49 viewers, good for second place. NBC was the No. 1 network for the night, just ahead of CBS with a 4.3/10.

CBS grabbed a big 7.4/19 in the 7 p.m. hour from its NFL coverage, which then lifted all shows: "60 Minutes," "Amazing Race," "Cold Case" and "The Unit."

NBC took a 5.4/12 for the night with its "Sunday Night Football" game featuring the Chicago Bears and the Minnesota Vikings--less than the 5.6/14 a week ago with the Indianapolis Colts and San Diego Chargers.

ABC came in third, unable to match its big three hours of "The American Music Awards" ratings of a week ago, which took in a 5.1/12, giving the network an average 4.3/10 last Sunday. This time around, even with "Desperate Housewives" earning its usually solid numbers--a 5.6/12--the highest-rated scripted show of the evening, ABC averaged a 3.7/9 on Sunday.

Fox's numbers were less than half of what they were a week ago: a 2.4/6 versus a 5.1/12 a week ago. That's because two of its four comedies, "King of the Hill" and "Family Guy," were in reruns. It also had trouble competing with a strong NFL overrun game of a week ago and a special two-hour "24" movie.

CW finally started its new Sunday night programming. While its numbers were vastly improved over the inventory that Media Rights Capital offered since the start of the season, its overall performance was still weak.

Both a rerun of cult CBS' program "Jericho" and the movie "The Crocodile Hunter" earned a 0.4 rating/1 share among 18-49 viewers and an average 1.26 million total viewers. A week ago, CW got a 0.2 rating/0.5 share and an average 580,000 total viewers.

Time	Network	Show	18-49 Rating/Share
7:00	CBS	NFL Football Overrun	7.4/19
	ABC	America's Funniest Home Videos	2.3/6
	NBC	Football Night in America	2.2/6
	FOX	King of the Hill (R)	1.2/3
	CW	Jericho (R)	0.4/1
7:30	CBS	NFL Overrun/60 Minutes	5.2/13
	FOX	King of the Hill (R)	1.5/4
8:00	CBS	60 Minutes/Amazing Race	4.2/9
	NBC	Football Night in America/Sun Night Football	4.5/10
	ABC	Extreme Makeover: Home Edition	3.6/8
	FOX	The Simpsons	3.5/8
	CW	Movie: The Crocodile Hunter (R)	0.4/1
8:30	FOX	King of the Hill	2.8/6
9:00	ABC	Desperate Housewives	5.6/12
	NBC	Sunday Night Football	5.8/12
	CBS	Amazing Race/Cold Case	3.2/7
	FOX	Family Guy (R)	3.2/7
	CW	Movie: The Crocodile Hunter (R)	0.4/1
9:30	FOX	American Dad	2.5/5
10:00	NBC	Sunday Night Football	5.0/12
	CBS	Cold Case/The Unit	2.9/7
	ABC	Brothers & Sisters	3.5/8

Source: Nielsen Media Research preliminary/overnight ratings