On the first Sunday of the November sweep, FOX finally launched the premieres for most of its popular Sunday night comedies, but it was an event 75 years in the making that helped carry CBS to the win for the night. The beginning of the network’s “CBS at 75” special carried CBS to a 12.2/18 at 8 p.m., enough to win the hour. The “Treehouse of Horror XIV” episode of The Simpsons pulled in an 8.8/13 and a repeat of “Barting Over” scored an 8.4/12 to give FOX second for the hour. ABC was third with “10-8.” Among adults 18-49, though, FOX scored a convincing victory with a 6.0 rating in the key demographic.
For the week, the new Simpsons ranked at #8 with 16.22 million viewers nationwide. The rerun occupied position #15 with 14.35 million. Its competition, “CBS At 75” came in at #6 with 18.19 million.