Ratings: Chuck Returns Strong, Simpsons Anniversary Draws Big Audience

The Season 3 premiere of Chuck pulled its highest ratings since its 3-D episode following the 2009 Super Bowl.

Chuck averaged 7.5 million viewers over the two one-hour episodes, a 21 percent increase over Season 2's average. Aside from the 3-D episode, no hour of Chuck has performed as well since 2007.

Chuck's Captain Awesome becoming much more awesome

The overrun of the Green Bay Packers-Arizona Cardinals playoff game helped Fox win the night overall. The network averaged 20.4 million viewers throughout the night. The biggest beneficiary was The Simpsons; the 450th episode and 20th anniversary special performed very well.

Official numbers were skewed by the football spillover, but the anniversary special drew roughly 12 million viewers, the largest audience for the show since it aired after the Super Bowl in 2005. The Cleveland Show(8.5 million viewers) was also up.

ABC placed second for the night, with Extreme Makeover: Home Editionpulling in 10.6 million viewers and Desperate Housewives drawing 14 million viewers. Brothers & Sisters slipped 8 percent in the adults 18-to-49 demographic and drew 10.5 million viewers.
CBS bookended its night with repeats of NCIS: Los Angeles (7 million viewers) and Criminal Minds (9.4 million viewers) while a new episode of Cold Case at 9/8c drew 10.2 million viewers.