"Desperate Housewives" shows its slip

Desperate Housewives' sophomore slump was real, if more like a sophomore slip.

Ratings for ABC's campy soap, which concluded its second season Sunday night, were down 5 percent from last year's breakout season to this, representing 1.2 million lost Wisteria Lane lookie-loos, per stats from Nielsen Media Research.

The show's decline, such as it was, was similar to one "suffered" by CBS' CSI, which lost nearly 1 million viewers in its sixth season, down 4 percent from this year to last.

By comparison, ABC's Grey's Anatomy grew its patient base in its sophomore season by nearly 2 million, up 11 percent (from 18 million to 19.9 million). And then there's the even bigger health-care success story of House. With Tuesday's second-season finale still to go, the Fox doctor/detective hybrid is up 28 percent, having added nearly 4 million viewers (16.9 million compared to 13.2 million).

To be sure, neither Desperate Housewives nor CSI are likely to soon need resuscitation from the Seattle Grace staff or Dr. House's team.

Desperate's two-hour, high-casualty season closer was watched by 24.2 million, its biggest audience since January, and good for fourth place in Nielsen's latest weekly rankings. CSI's spring farewell was witnessed by 25.4 million (third place).

And despite down seasons overall, both Desperate Housewives and CSI will end the 2005-06 season where they ended 2004-05 season, right behind Fox's American Idol. CSI is on track to finish third overall, having averaged 25.2 million viewers; Desperate Housewives is all but a lock for fourth (22.2 million)--exactly where they finished last year. (Barring a power outage at the Taylor Hicks-Katharine McPhee sing-off, Tuesday Idol and Wednesday Idol will finish one and two, respectively.)

Last week, ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson addressed the perception that Desperate Housewives, ratings aside, had slipped in the creative department. McPherson said the show "stumbled a little bit," but got its bearings again. He promised the cast would return intact in the fall for the third season. He likely meant the cast that wasn't harmed during the making of the season finale.

The season ends Wednesday night, shortly after Idol pads its monster numbers with two more presumed monster nights.

Elsewhere in the TV week ended Sunday:

Will & Grace' swan song was the week's most-watched swan song, with the hourlong finale (eighth place, 18.4 million) posting the comedy's most viewers in two years, NBC said. Its clip-show retrospective, Will & Grace: Say Goodnight, Gracie, did okay, too (24th place, 12.9 million).
Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher returned to That '70s Show, and so did the viewers, for a two-part series closer that averaged 9.3 million (the first half-hour finished in 38th place; the second half-hour in 31st), the most in two years, Fox said.
Maybe The O.C. should have run Mischa Barton off the road months ago--her character's demise in the third-season cliffhanger was watched by 6.4 million (59th place), up 12 percent over the show's year-end average.
UPN's America's Next Top Model season ender, featuring the catwalk crowning of Danielle Evans, generated about as many think pieces on Tyra Banks' handling of her young charges as viewers, which is to say a (relative) bunch on all counts. The CW-bound show ranked 62nd with 5.9 million model fans.
More season finales performances: Grey's Anatomy (fifth place, 22.5 million); NBC's ER (10th place, 16.6 million); NBC's Law & Order (18th place, 13.6 million); Fox's Prison Break (30th place, 10.2 million); ABC's Boston Legal (33rd place, 9.3 million); ABC's American Inventor (55th place, 6.6 million); and, NBC's Scrubs (60th place, 6.2 million for the first episode; 56th place, 6.6 million for the second episode).
The 2006 Idol top three--Hicks, McPhee and Elliott Yamin--outdrew the 2005 Idol top three--Carrie Underwood, Bo Bice and Vonzell Solomon--by more than 3 million when comparing the trios' respective competition night numbers.
Wednesday's Idol (second place, 27.7 million), ending Yamin's journey, as it were, took a bite out of the season's penultimate episode of ABC's Lost (13th place, 14.7 million).
Overall, CBS and Fox scored their weekly wins--CBS in total viewers (12 million); Fox in the 18-to-49 demographic. So as to further assert their domination, both declared victories Tuesday in the as-yet completed May sweeps and 2005-06 season. As has been the trend, CBS will score wins in viewers; Fox will score wins in the demo.

ABC, meanwhile, finished third for the week in viewers (10.5 million), and predicted it would finish the season up 7 percent in that category.

NBC finished fourth for the week in viewers (9.6 million), and almost assuredly will finish fourth in viewers for the season. Looking for the bright side, the network announced that its Thursday slate attracted the most six-figure-earning young adults of any night on broadcast TV, presumably offsetting all the other nights when Deal or No Deal aired.

Here's a look at the 10 most-watched prime-time shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:

1. American Idol (Tuesday), Fox, 28.3 million
2. American Idol (Wednesday), Fox, 27.7 million
3. CSI, CBS, 25.4 million
4. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 24.2 million
5. Grey's Anatomy, ABC, 22.5 million
6. House, Fox, 22.4 million
7. Without a Trace, CBS, 19.8 million
8. Will & Grace, NBC, 18.4 million
9. CSI: Miami, CBS, 17.5 million
10. ER, 16.6 million