Cartoon Ratings

The animated half-hours, they hold up well in prime time.

The Simpsons come in a strong second behind televised football, Family Guy performs well in its time slot, with Bob's Burgers a couple of notches behind. ...

Who watches what:

Broadcast Ratings -- Share -- Viewers

8:00 -- Football Night -- 11 -- 11.16m
The Simpsons -- 7 -- 5.61m
Revenge -- 1 -- 1.94m

9:00 -- Family Guy 4 -- 3.08m
Revenge -- 1 -- 1.53m

9:30 -- The Mentalist -- 4 -- 8.48m
Bob's Burgers -- 3 -- 2.52m

The Simpsons, as seen above, still pulls in viewers a quarter century after original launch, maybe because they keep pushing envelopes and using fresh faces:

'The Simpsons' Judd Apatow Script Will Air In 2015 After Being Written 25 Years Ago

... Most writers in Hollywood have a litany of spec scripts lying around that never went anywhere. However, [Judd Apatow] ... mentioned his “Simpsons” script in an interview a few years ago that was read by Al Jean, of The Simpsons executive producers. ... [Al Jean] told Apatow that now was the time to make his dusty spec script happen.

Apatow submitted the script for the episode -- titled "Bart's New Friend" and set to air Jan. 11 -- when “The Simpsons” had only aired its first six episodes. It focuses on Homer being the subject of a botched hypnosis act. He’s left thinking he’s a 10-year-old boy and immediately befriends his son, Bart. The family has difficulty getting Homer to return to normal because he's enjoying being a kid. ...

“The reason I brought up the 'Simpsons’ episode is because I realized ... that everything I had ever written was the premise of the first thing I had ever written,” said [Apatow] “All of my stories are about people trying hard not to grow up.” ...

Simpson artists sometimes wonder aloud how long the series will run. I tell them, thirty years at least. But I could be wrong. It will probably run thirty-five.