Ratings Rat Race: ‘666 Park Ave’ Starts Low; ‘Once’ & ‘Revenge’ Return On Par; CBS, Fox Shows Down; ‘SNF’ Logs Best Week 4 Game

ABC’s fairytale drama Once Upon A Time made a solid return last night with a 3.8/10 in adults 18-49, a tenth below the fast national for its big series debut last fall. It was the highest-rated scripted series of the night despite Fox’s lineup getting an NFL boost. Soap Revenge posted a 3.2/7 in its second-season premiere in the new Sunday 9 PM slot. It was a respectable showing — a tenth below its series premiere last fall in the Wednesday 10 PM slot with a huge Modern Family lead-in and up 7% from the final season opener of Desperate Housewives in the Sunday 9 PM berth last September. It also dominated CBS’ The Good Wife (1.8/4) in the time period. But ABC’s new spooky drama 666 Park Avenue (2.2/5) was off to a slow start at 10 PM, down 29% from last fall’s debut of the now-defunct Pan Am. 

NBC won Premiere Sunday with football. In the metered markets, the New York Giants-Philadelphia Eagles game drew a 15.6 rating/25 share, up 23% from last year’s week-four game (Jets-Ravens). It was the best Week 4 Sunday Night Football telecast ever and NFL’s best Week 4 primetime game in 16 years. It was also the highest-rated primetime NFL game airing during broadcast’s premiere week since 1996.

CBS’ Sunday lineup was down double-digits year-to-year across the board. 60 Minutes, featuring an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger, did a 1.8/5 in 18-49, down 22% from last year’s season premiere. The Amazing Race (2.5/6), which just earned another best reality competition series Emmy, was down 17% for its lowest-rated premiere ever. Also logging their lowest-rated openers ever were The Good Wife (1.8/4, down 18% from last September) and The Mentalist (2.1/5, down 25% from its premiere on Thursday last fall) in its new Sunday time slot.

For a second straight Premiere Sunday, Fox had a football overrun, buoying ratings and making year-to-year comparisons fair. The Simpsons launched its 25th season with a 3.7/10, down 5% from last year. Family Guy (3.3/8) was down 20%; American Dad (2.5/6) down 17%. The only show bucking the down trend was Bob’s Burgers (2.5/6) at 8:30 PM, which was up 32% from its last year’s debut in March with a much smaller lead-in.

Last night also marked the season premieres of Showtime’s Dexter and Homeland. Their ratings will be released later this morning.