 In its original broadcast , " Treehouse of Horror VII " finished 31st in ratings for the week of October 21 – 27 , 1996 , with a Nielsen rating of 10 @.@ 5 , equivalent to approximately 10 @.@ 2 million viewing households . It was the third highest @-@ rated show on the Fox network that week , following Millennium and The X @-@ Files . 
