The first truly competitive Sunday of the fall season saw original programming return to all of the Big Four last night, with Sunday Night Football notching an easy win and many eyeballs likely diverted from scripted offerings by AMC's finale of Breaking Bad -- the ratings for which will arrive later on Monday.
The New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons averaged topped the night with a 6.7 rating with adults 18-49 in Fast National returns, down just 3 percent from last week's initial rating. Football Night in America took in a 2.1, 3.4 and 5.3 adults rating in its respective half-hours. Though it should see upward adjustment once time zones are taken into account, NBC's nightly average currently gives it an average 5.6 rating among adults 18-49 and 15.3 million viewers.
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Among scripted fare, the return of Fox's Animation Domination lineup gave the network the night's top entertainment program in The Simpsons. The show averaged a 2.8 rating among adults 18-49, down 26 percent from last fall and besting perennial Fox winner Family Guy thanks in large part to a lead-in from the NFL overrun (5.1 adults). Bob's Burgers (2.1 adults, down 18 percent), Family Guy (2.6 adults, down 21 percent), and American Dad (2.1 adults, down 16 percent) followed. The network averaged a 3.3 rating among adults 18-49 and 8.1 million viewers.
ABC saw slumps for its scripted premieres, with Once Upon a Time bringing in the network's biggest haul with a 2.6 rating among adults 18-49 at 8 p.m. That's down a steep 33 percent from last fall's opener. Revenge, down about 25 percent, averaged a 2.5 rating in the key demo. Both shows saw strong DVR growth throughout their sophomore runs, so those numbers will likely be boosted significantly in Live+Three Day returns.
Betrayal did not buck the trend of soft debuts in the network's troubled 10 p.m. hour. The series premiere averaged a 1.5 rating in the key demo, down 29 percent from last fall's ill-fated launch of 666 Park Ave. ABC had an average 2.0 adults rating and 6.7 million viewers for the night.
CBS saw its primetime lineup delayed 15 minutes by FNL overrun in most major markets, leaving premiere ratings from The Amazing Race (2.0 adults), The Good Wife (1.5 adults) and The Mentalist (1.6 adults) all tentative and subject to change -- though all will be down double digits from last fall's premieres. The network averaged a 1.6 rating with 18-49-ers and 9.5 million viewers.
Univision averaged a 1.1 rating with adults 18-49 and 2.9 million viewers, while Telemundo took a 0.4 in the demo and 983,000 viewers.
