<i>Desperate Housewives</i> remains strong in second week (14035)

Out creator Marc Cherry's Desperate Housewives was hot to trot in its second outing for ABC on Sunday, leading the network to a commanding nightly victory with assistance from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Boston Legal. ABC won the night by a commanding margin in total viewers (13.8 million) and the 18-49 age demographic (5.6 rating/15 share), according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research. Housewives retained virtually all of its whopping premiere audience, with an average of 20.3 million viewers and 8.7/20 in the 18-49 group at 9 p.m. Extreme Makeover (14.6 million, 6.2/16) did its part by delivering a healthy lead-in at 8 p.m. NBC's competing Law & Order: Criminal Intent (12.5 million, 4.5/11) rebounded noticeably after taking a drubbing against the Housewives premiere last week. At 10 p.m., the second outing of ABC's The Practice spin-off, Boston Legal (12.8 million, 5.1/13), improved slightly on last week's premiere ratings to keep ABC on top in the hour. NBC's Crossing Jordan (12.5 million, 4.4/11) was a competitive number 2 in the hour. CBS fielded the second- most watched program of the night in 8 p.m.'s Cold Case (15.5 million, 3.5/9). But the network ran third in total viewers behind ABC and NBC with its 9-11 p.m. TV movie While I Was Gone (11.6 million, 3.0/8).