Nellie Andreeva

NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice (3.0 rating/8 share in adults 18-49, 7.9 million viewers overall) rebounded by 20% from last week, posting its top 18-49 and viewers numbers since the season premiere on March 14. The ratings spike no doubt was fueled at least in part by the public’s interest in contestant Bret Michaels, whose illness has dominated celebrity news coverage for the past few days. The episode ended with a message wishing Michaels, who is still hospitalized after suffering a brain hemorrhage on Thursday, a speedy recovery. Also helping Apprentice‘s surge was the preemption of CBS’ breakout reality hit Undercover Boss.

At ABC, Desperate Housewives (3.3/8, 11.1 million), the No.1 program of the night, was flat from last week, tying its lowest 18-49 rating ever while drawing its largest audience in six weeks. Brothers & Sisters (2.4/6) at 10 PM was up 9% from last week.

CBS’ The Amazing Race (3.1/9 in 18-49) was down 9% week to week, while the network’s Hallmark Hall of Fame movie When Love Is Not Enough (1.2/3) barely registered, down a whooping 43% from the most recent Hallmark Hall of Fame telefilm, A Dog Named Christmas (2.1/5)

Fox aired repeats of Family Guy and The Cleveland Show and originals of The Simpsonssimpsons (2.8/8) and American Dad (2.7/7) both up a notch from last week. The Simpsons’ opening also provided the most memorable moment Sunday night with its message of support to South Park, reeling off death threats from a Muslim group and controversial censoring of last week’s episode by Comedy Central over representation of Prophet Muhammad.

Overall, ABC (2.3/6) edged out NBC and Fox (tied at 2.2/6) to win the night in the demo, while CBS (9 million) was tops in total viewers.

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