See Also: 'Listen to the Rain on the Roof' Episode Guide

Desperate Housewives made its season three debut to suitably strong numbers.

According to figures released by Zap2it, "Listen to the Rain on the Roof" scored a 14.6 rating with a 21 share. These figures mean that of all households in the United States with television sets, 14.6% were tuned into DH, as well as 21% of those households actually watching television on Sunday at 9:00pm.

These numbers are very much in line with the season finale, which back in May got a 14.3/22 score. The episode beat the season premiere of CBS's Cold Case which scored 9.7/14, as well as Sunday Night Football on NBC.

Overall for the evening, ABC averaged a 10.2/16 score, beating CBS on 8.9/14, for the top spot. Among adults 18–49, ABC's 6.4 rating was easily ahead of NBC's 4.6.

New Housewives lead-out Brothers & Sisters came second in the 10pm hour, beaten by CBS's Without a Trace. But at 10.6/17 it did a respectable job at holding the Housewives audience.

Meanwhile Housewives's old lead-out, which went on to surpass Housewives by the end of its second season, moved into its new Thursday night slot against CBS juggernaught CSI. And it won. ABC's decision to move the show away from Housewives and up against the biggest scripted drama on US TV was a brave one , but it seems to have paid off.

Zap2it's original ratings report can be found by by following this link.

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