TV ratings: Football dominates; ‘Simpsons,’ ‘Family Guy’ open strong

“Sunday Night Football” helped elevate NBC to No. 1 network of the night, but Fox didn’t fall far behind with season premieres of “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy.”

The New Orleans Saints-Dallas Cowboys telecast on NBC at 8:30 p.m. earned a rating of 7.6 in the key 18-to-49-year-old demographic, according to early Nielsen ratings. Almost 20 million people tuned in to the game.

The network was No. 1 with a rating of 6.1 in the key demo and 16.2 million viewers.

Meanwhile, Fox’s NFL over-run earned a rating of 7.3 in the key demo and averaged 20.7 million viewers. The lead-in helped “The Simpsons” premiere earn a rating of 3.9 in the key demo, up 34% from last season’s premiere. The show averaged 8.4 million viewers.

Also on the network, the season premiere of “Family Guy,” a crossover episode called “The Simpsons Guy,” was up 73% from last season’s premiere in the key demo with a rating of 4.5. This was the show’s highest-rated premiere in four years. It averaged 8.4 million viewers.

The network, which also premiered a new season of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” was the second-most-watched overall with a rating of 4.9 in the key demo and about 11.7 million viewers.

However, due to the nature of live sports, ratings for Fox from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. and for NBC for the night are approximate.

On ABC, ratings for the premiere of “Once Upon a Time” surged with help from a story arc based on the hit animated Disney film “Frozen.” The show earned a rating of 3.4 in the key demo, up 31% from last season’s premiere. Roughly 9.3 million people tuned in.

The return of “Revenge” and “Resurrection” saw decreases from their last seasons. With a rating of 2.2 in the key demo, “Resurrection” was down 42% from last season’s debut. The show nabbed 7.5 million viewers.

“Revenge,” which averaged 5.25 million viewers, was down 39% from last season with a rating of 1.4 in the key demo.

The network was third-most-watched in the key demo with a rating of 2.1. It averaged 6.8 million viewers.

On CBS, the premiere of “CSI” earned a rating of 1.4 in the key demo and averaged 9.6 million viewers.

The network’s new political show “Madam Secretary” dropped 30% from last week’s season debut to a rating of 1.4 in the key demo. It rounded out the top five-most-watched programs of the night, averaging 12.6 million viewers.

About 11.2 million people tuned in to CBS’ “The Good Wife,” which earned a rating of 1.3 in the key demo.

“60 Minutes” didn’t fare as well. With a rating of 1.1 in the key demo, the show was down 69% from last week’s season premiere. About 9.1 million people tuned in.

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