Ratings for ABC's Desperate Housewives dropped to their lowest level in history Sunday night, falling below 10 million viewers for the first time. The onetime powerhouse captured just 8.83 million viewers, coming in third opposite CBS's coverage of the 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards and NBC's Celebrity Apprentice . A year ago, against the same competition, Desperate Housewives attracted 10.62 million viewers, which also turned out to be the lowest number for that season. The collapse of Housewives ' numbers also hit ABC's new series Body of Proof, which followed and which averaged 8.44 million viewers. The show premiered strongly last Tuesday with 13.85 million viewers.

04/04/2011