Holiday respite over, football, news, laughs draw viewers back to networks on Sunday

Viewers return to TV Sunday after holidays

NEW YORK — At the holiday season’s end, people returned to television for some football, some news and a few laughs.

Three of the four most-watched programs in prime-time television last week were on Sunday night, each distinctly different and on different networks. There was NBC’s telecast of the NFL game between the New York Jets and Cincinnati Bengals, the return of “Desperate Housewives” on ABC and “60 Minutes” on CBS.

An estimated 65 percent of the homes in the U.S. had TVs on at some point Sunday evening. The Nielsen Co. says that’s the highest level since before Christmas. That level dipped below 50 percent on New Year’s Eve.

On the Net:

www.nielsenmedia.com