‘Once Upon a Time’ Up, ACMs and ‘Resurrection’ Down on Busy Sunday Night

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ABC rookie drama “Resurrection” slid a bit more in its fifth week Sunday, likely losing some audience to CBS’ telecast of the Academy of Country Music Awards, though the kudocast was down from its especially strong numbers of last year. The Alphabet fared better relative to last week with “Once Upon a Time,” which is clearly looking healthier than it was at this time a year ago.

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Ratings for HBO’s return of “Game of Thrones” and Showtime’s season finale of “Shameless” were not available early Monday, but are expected to be released later in the day.

CBS won Sunday in key demos as well as total viewers, according to Nielsen, with the ACMs averaging a 3.3 rating/9 share in adults 18-49 and 14.1 million viewers overall from 8 to 11 p.m., beating its rivals in all six half-hours. The awards show dubbed “Country Music’s Party of the Year,” hosted this year by Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, will come in down about 20% in 18-49 from last year’s show (4.3/11, 15.51 million) but above the years from 2010 through 2012. The 2013 ACM Awards logged the show’s highest 18-49 average in 12 years and its largest overall audience in 15 years. Kicking off the night, “60 Minutes” led its time period with a 1.3/4 in 18-49 (tying with ABC’s “America’s Funniest Home Videos”) and 9.6 million viewers overall.

At ABC, “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (1.3/4 in 18-49, 6.0 million viewers overall) matched last week’s delivery, and “Once Upon a Time” (2.2/6 in 18-49, 6.7 million viewers overall) was up a tick and narrowly beat Fox’s comedies to rank second to the ACMs in 18-49 for the 8 o’clock hour. “Once” didn’t air an original against the ACMs a year ago, but its 2.2 rating on Sunday was nearly 20% above its 1.85 average for three April episodes in 2013. From there, “Resurrection” (2.1/5 in 18-49, 7.5 million viewers overall) continues to gradually lose audience, with last night’s average (likely a 2.2 in the nationals) off 8% from the previous week’s 2.4 — though it still beat the regular series airing opposite it on Fox and NBC. And at 10, “Revenge” (1.3/3 in 18-49, 4.9 (1.9/5 in 18-49, 4.3 million viewers overall) was down a tenth from last week to match its low.

Fox was in line with last week, though “Bob’s Burgers” (0.9/3 in 18-49, 2.2 million viewers overall) and “American Dad” (1.2/4 in 18-49, 2.7 million viewers overall) were down a bit. “The Simpsons” (1.9/5 in 18-49, 4.3 million viewers overall) was steady in demos and up about 10% in total viewers at 8 while “Family Guy” (2.3/6 in 18-49 and 4.7 million viewers overall) was up 10% (0.2) to narrowly stand as the night’s top broadcast series in adults 18-49. “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey” (1.5/4 in 18-49, 4.0 2.3/6 in 18-49 and 4.7 million viewers overall) matched its week-ago score.

At NBC, auds were cool toward NBC’s special “Ann Curry Reports: Global Warming” (0.6/2 in 18-49, 2.9 million viewers overall) as well as alternative series “American Dream Builders” at 8 (0.6/2 in 18-49, 4.1 million viewers overall). The net then picked up a bit with 9-11 p.m. drama “Believe” (1.0/2 in 18-49, 4.4 million viewers overall) and “Crisis” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 2.3 million viewers overall), both of which were down a tick to lows.

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: CBS, 2.8/8; ABC, 1.7/5; Fox, 1.5/4; NBC and Univision, 0.8/2; Telemundo, 0.7/2.

In total viewers: CBS, 13.1 million; ABC, 6.3 million; NBC, 3.9 million; Fox, 3.7 million; Univision, 2.1 million; Telemundo, 1.7 million.