Family Guy does good ratings! Suprise suprise

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Fox roared back to life Sunday with the return of animated comedy "Family Guy," but ABC soared into the stratosphere and ran off with the nightly win thanks to a fresh installment of "Desperate Housewives."

The return of cult animation fave "Family Guy," which Fox canceled nearly four years ago only to see it have renewed life in reruns and DVD sales, packed a punch with an average of 11.9 million viewers and 5.7 rating/13 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research.

"Guy's" showing was particularly impressive given the tally for ABC's 9 p.m. monster "Housewives" (25.9 million, 11.4/25).

"Guy" got a boost from back-to-back episodes of Fox's "The Simpsons" (10.7 million, 5.2/11) from 8-9 p.m. At 9:30 p.m., the premiere of "American Dad" (9.5 million, 4.6/10) the new animated series from "Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane dropped a chunk of its lead-in but still gave Fox its highest marks in the time slot in months.

CBS did respectable numbers from 9-11 p.m. with its Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie "Riding the Bus with My Sister," starring Rosie O'Donnell (15 million, 3.5/8).

But ABC had no trouble taking the night. In addition to "Housewives," the network was buoyed by strong showings from "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (12.4 million, 4.8/14) from 7-9 p.m. and 10 p.m. newcomer "Grey's Anatomy" (18.6 million, 8.5/20), which hit a new ratings high for the fourth week in a row.

For the night, ABC averaged 17.3 million viewers and 7.4/19 in the key demo. Fox was No.2 in 18-49 with 4.5/12 while CBS placed second in viewers (14.5 million).

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter