Sunday ratings: NFL, Ryder Cup rules

Now that’s more like it.

The first Sunday night is in the books as footabll ruled prime-time once again as the New York Giants took on the Philadelphia Eagles in the city of Brotherly Love (or hate.)

Meanwhile, NBC also got ratings mileage Sunday afternoon thanks in part to the historic collapse of the U.S. team in the Ryder Cup Golf Tournament, something the 2011 Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves would be proud of.

All ratings are adult 18-49 numbers, unless otherwise noted.

NBC dominated the ratings the entire night with a 9.0 rating/23 share for Sunday Night Football, and 22.76 million viewers, up 22 percent from week four’s game last year. The strong numbers helped the NFL to its best ratings for a week four game in primetime in 16 years.

ABC started the evening with an Once Upon A Time clip show with a 1.8/6, followed by the season premiere of Once Upon A Time with a 3.8/10, and 11.1 million viewers, down 5 percent from last year’s premiere. Revenge followed with a 3.2/7, flat with year-ago time period occupant Desperate Housewives, but down from its lead-in. Finally, supernatural drama 666 Park Avenue was a dud with a 2.2/5, down 31 percent from year-ago occupant Pan Am. Maybe mixing Supernatural with soap opera elements wasn’t such a good idea (didn’t work for NBC’s daytime soap Passions either.)

CBS started off with the always reliable 60 Minutes (1.7/5, 11.52 million viewers), followed by the season premiere of The Amazing Race (2.5/6, down 17 percent from last year). But the network mailed it in for the rest of the night with The Good Wife (1.8/4, down 18 percent from last year) and The Mentalist, whose 2.1/5 is down 25 percent from last year, but still drew 11 million viewers.  In its first season, Mentalist averaged around 20 million viewers a week.

After a football overrun (8.5/28), Fox’s Animation Domination returned for a new season, starting off with 3.8/10 for the 24th season premiere of The Simpsons, down a tick from last year’s September 25th premiere, but a huge jump from its May sweeps average, around a 2.0. Next was the ultra-cool Bob’s Burgers, but its ratings weren’t so cool: a 2.6/6, down 32 percent from its Simpsons lead-in, but earned its highest rating since it debuted on January 9, 2011.

Family Guy followed with a 3.3/8, down 20 percent from its September 25, 2011 season premiere. American Dad closed out the evening, with a 2.5/6, down 24 percent from its lead-in. You have to question why Fox decided to launch a new season of Animation Domination only to pre-empt for postseason baseball for the next three weeks, beginning October 14. I guess bad decision-making runs in the family at Fox.

Outside of primetime, the 2013 Ryder Cup Golf Tournament from nearby Medinah, IL was a ratings smash for NBC, thanks to a historic collapse by the U.S. team, which enabled the Europeans to hold on to the title. Holding up well against regional football coverage on CBS and Fox, the Ryder Cup earned a 4.1/9 household rating/share, up 71 percent from 2010, the last time the Ryder Cup was held. In Chicago, the Ryder Cup earned a 6.5/15 for WMAQ, good enough for fifth place among all metered markets (West Palm Beach’s WPTV was ranked first with a 8.1/16.)