RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Simpsons’ Rises With Lego-Themed Episode, ‘Resurrection’ Finale Steady, ’60 Minutes’ & ‘American Home Builders’ Fall, ‘Cosmos’ Up
They were really building something on The Simpsons (1.9/6) on Sunday. “You’re right,” Marge said to a questioning Bart last night, “something is different about the Simpsons today.” Of course, the answer wasn’t just that Homer was “wearing a tie.” It was that the Fox show was almost completely full of the Danish interlocking blocks for its 550th episode. Being the Matt Groening-created show, the “Brick Like Me” episode made a nod to Warner Bros’ blockbuster The LEGO Movie and also went very much down its own CGI road. And that worked out well for the long-running series with a 19% rise among adults 18-49 and a 26% rise in viewers to 4.3 million. The rest of Fox’s mainly animated night was on an upward turn for the most part as well. While Bob’s Burgers (1.1/4) was even with last week, American Dad (1.3/4) bopped up 8%. The highest-rated show of the night, Family Guy (2.2/7), saw a 5% rise, while Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (1.6/5) gained 14% from its April 27 episode after a couple of weeks staying steady.
The end and the feds arrived big time on Resurrection (2.0/6) last night on ABC. After eight episodes, the limited-run series wrapped up its freshman season with a very big reveal at the end. Having said that, there was no big bump for the Omar Epps-starring series, but it did snap its downward trend with a 5% rise from its April 27 show. While there is no official word yet if ABC Studios-produced Resurrection is returning, the Aaron Zelamn-produced show is likely coming back. Despite the fact the drama about the dead who return to life saw its 18-49 demo fall week after week in fast nationals from the strong 3.8/10 of its March 9 debut, Resurrection steadily pulled in healthy DVR numbers. Winning the night in the demo with a 1.7/5 rating, ABC started Sunday at 7 PM with America’s Funniest Home Videos (1.6/6) even with last week. At 8 PM, Once Upon A Time (2.0/6) dipped 9% while the penultimate Season 3 episode of Revenge (1.3/4) was even with last week. Preliminary numbers currently have Revenge matching a series low.
CBS won the night among total viewers with 8.99 million watching and 60 Minutes (1.0/4) was the most-watched show of Sunday’s primetime with 10.32 million viewers. But the news mag show took a demo hit: 60 Minutes fell a hard 23% from its April 27 broadcast to tie a series low. The rest of CBS’ night was better but everyone seemed to suffer. The Amazing Race (1.7/5) was down 11%, The Good Wife (1.0/3) dipped 8%, while The Mentalist (1.2/4) was even with last week to tie a series low.
Having now fully settled into the 7 PM slot, American Dream Builders (0.5/2) did not have a good third week. Coming off a big jump up last week, the freshman home improvement reality series took a 17% tumble to match a low. Otherwise is was all even Steven on NBC last night with Dateline (1.0/3), Believe (1.0/3) and Crisis (1.0/3) all even with their April 27 episodes.
Related stories
RATINGS RAT RACE: 'Bob's Burgers' & 'Once Upon A Time' Rise, 'The Mentalist' & 'The Simpsons' Down
Get more from Deadline.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
Solve the daily Crossword
