''We are about to accomplish something that many thought was impossible for this network," said CBS chairman Leslie Moonves.
Moonves said it vindicated CBS's strategy of trying to appeal to the widest possible audience in hopes the younger viewers follow, instead of simply pandering to youth.
A classic teaser episode -- who's going to be killed on Wisteria Lane? -- led ABC's ''Desperate Housewives" to a series-best 27.2 million viewers Sunday. It was the most popular show on television during Thanksgiving week.
Stewart, Burnett cook up TV plans
Martha Stewart is making big plans to return to the small screen next year following her five-month gig in a West Virginia prison.
Sources said Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, having tapped former ABC Entertainment chief Susan Lyne as its new CEO this month, is close to sealing a deal with NBC for a prime-time reality series to feature the domestic diva. It will be produced by ''Survivor" Svengali Mark Burnett.
Specifics of the series are still murky, but sources said that it would have an elimination-style competition element along the lines of Burnett's ''Survivor" and ''The Apprentice."
Separately, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is in negotiations with top syndicators to revive Stewart's daily show, which was effectively canceled in May after she was convicted of obstructing justice in an insider stock-trading investigation.
Burnett, who announced plans to collaborate with Stewart on new TV projects in September, also is on board to produce the new syndicated show.
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
Bergen's back
Five-time Emmy winner Candice Bergen is coming aboard ABC's freshman series ''Boston Legal" in her first regular series role since ''Murphy Brown" left the air in 1998.
Bergen will join the cast in the show's 12th episode, likely to air in January. She'll play Shirley Schmidt, a founding partner in the law firm of Crane, Poole & Schmidt who's been away for some time.
