The Hollywood Reporter
26 April 2005
Locusts is seen by 12.8 million viewers
The eye network's heavily promoted 9-11 p.m. telepic "Locusts!" (12.8 million, 3.9/9) did OK but won't go down in the Nielsen annals as one of primetime's great made-for plagues.
April 26, 2005
'Housewives' highlights defeat insect invasion
A swarm of locusts hit CBS on Sunday, but the insect invasion was no match for a clip-show recap episode of ABC's "Desperate Housewives." ABC easily won the night, as usual, with a solid performance from a special "Sorting
out the Dirty Laundry" highlight reel episode of "Housewives" that lured in 23.7 million viewers and 10.0 rating/23 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research.
ABC also dominated at 8 p.m. hour with a fresh episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (16.7 million, 6.7/17) and at 10 p.m. with fledgling drama "Grey's Anatomy" (18.2 million, 8.1/20). CBS had a good night with 8
p.m. drama "Cold Case" (16.5 million, 3.7/10) building significantly on its "60 Minutes" lead-in (12.4 million, 2.5/8). The eye network's heavily promoted 9-11 p.m. telepic "Locusts!" (12.8 million, 3.9/9) did OK but
won't go down in the Nielsen annals as one of primetime's great made-for plagues. NBC's regular 8 p.m. edition of "The Contender" (5.5 million, 2.5/7) produced modest numbers but an extra helping of the boxing reality
show at 9 p.m. (6.4 million, 3.3/7) improved despite the "Housewives" competition. At 10 p.m., a fresh episode of NBC's "Crossing Jordan" (8.8 million, 3.3/8) had trouble keeping up with the ABC and CBS competition. Fox
was on the sidelines for the night with its 8-10 p.m. telecast of the American Top 40 Awards special yielding only 4 million viewers and 1.6/4 in adults 18-49. For the night, ABC towered over the pack with an average of
16.7 million viewers and 6.9/18 in the key demo. CBS was second in both measures (13.6 million, 3.5/9). (Cynthia Littleton)