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NBC’s Sunday Flails without Football

Without the benefit of Sunday Night Football, it looks as though NBC may lose all the gains it made on Sunday nights throughout the fall.

Sunday nights saw NBC biggest ratings gains, up 88 percent from the previous year, writes Media Life. But without a regular season football game, Sunday’s fully revamped schedule was a big dud.

Even with lowered expectations - nobody expected the new Sunday night to equal the 4.9 adults 18-49 rating that NBC was averaging with the NFL - Sunday’s ratings were disturbing. NBC averaged a 2.5 rating, 2 points behind No. 3 ABC.

Of course, the network was up against the premiere of Fox’s 24, an enormously promoted show. But competition is not expected to lighten up, with the AFC Championship game and then the Super Bowl coming on CBS.

But what hurt NBC even more, according to the article, was the fact that NBC put too much faith in old shows, and The Apprentice and Crossing Jordan, both in their sixth seasons, ended up posting series-low numbers.

Meanwhile, Desperate Housewives, airing Sunday at 9 p.m. on ABC, posted its lowest rating of the season.