A Sunday night filled with new programming on ABC earned pedestrian ratings as the network finished in third place on the night, behind frontrunners CBS and Fox.
The special Ty's Great British Adventure earned a fourth place finish in the 8 p.m. hour. Its follow-up, the two-hour pilot of space-travel drama Defying Gravity, faired slightly better, with second place finishes at 9 and 10 p.m.
ABC and CBS tied in the 7 p.m. hour with a rerun of America's Funniest Home Videos and 60 Minutes, respectively. Both averaged a 1.3/5. 60 Minutes, leading with a story on the efficacy of the TSA airport security checkpoints, was the most-watched show of the night, with 9.2 million viewers tuning in--a sizeable increase from last week's 7.1 million. NBC finished third at a 1.2/4 with Dateline. Reruns of Fox's ‘Til Death (0.7/3) and American Dad (0.8/3) drew an average 0.7/3. Easy Money on The CW earned a 0.3/1.
CBS led the way at 8 with Big Brother, averaging a 2.1/7 and 6.9 million viewers, up from last week's 1.8/6. Fox moved up to a 1.7/5, with back-to-back Simpsons reruns. NBC's Merlin drew a 1.1/4. Ty's Great British Adventure on ABC did a 1.0/3. The CW was fifth at 0.6/2 for the first hour of its Sunday night movie, Overboard.
Reruns of i(2.2/6) and The Simpsons (2.0/6) put Fox in first at 9, with a 2.1/6. ABC and CBS tied for second at a 1.1/3. The first hour of i drew 3.8 million viewers, while CBS' Cold Case rerun scored 6.6 million. The opening hour of the second installment of NBC's movie The Storm came in at a 0.9/3, down from a 1.2/3 in the time slot last week. The second hour of Overboard on the CW earned a 0.8/2.
CBS moved back into first at 10 with a rerun of Without a Trace pulling a 1.3/4. The second hour of Defying Gravity on ABC stayed at a 1.1/3. The last hour of The Storm earned a 1.0/3.
On the night, CBS and Fox both tallied a 1.5/5. ABC was third, with a 1.1/3. NBC earned a 1.0/3. The CW finished fifth, with a 0.6/2.
