Animation Domination

... dominates somewhat less due to sporting events.

... NBC and Sunday Night Football dominated the ratings, but all the Fox and ABC season premieres except Brothers & Sisters (which was even) fell vs. last year’s premieres. ... The Simpson’s 3.7 adults 18-49 rating was down 14% from last season’s premiere (9/27/09). The Cleveland Show’s 3.1 rating was down 37% from its series premiere last season. Family Guy’s 4.5 rating lead the night, but was down 15% vs. last season’s premiere. ...

I think it will take several weeks, and the end of the gridiron season, to see where Fox's Sunday lineup ends in the ratings race.

I was up visiting The Simpsons crew this morning, and several artists and one of the directors mentioned how happy they've been working on a long-running show, even though the work hasn't always been easy.

"Sometimes it's been like pushing through mud, you know? There were problems to solve, and it went on 52 weeks a year. But that's a nice problem to have, working year-round. Nobody had any idea it would go on this long when we started. I know none of the executives did. But here we are. ..."

I opined that the show would go on for years yet. (Fox isn't going to toss away one of its cash cows until the animal stops giving milk.)