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World Series Gives Fox Sunday Ratings Victory

Oct 23, 2006  •  Post A Comment

Fox enjoyed a rare Sunday night television ratings victory thanks to Game 2 of the World Series, which bested the ABC lineup that has dominated the night so far this season.

The Detroit-St. Louis match, which the Tigers won to pull even with the Cardinals at 1-1 for the series, drew a 5.4 rating among adults 18 to 49, slightly lower than the same game last year. The game gave Fox a 5.5 average for the night, topping ABC’s 5.3, according to Nielsen Media Research.

ABC’s Sunday anchor, “Desperate Housewives,” saw its second-lowest viewership to date for an original episode (8.0). “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” scored a 4.9 and “Brothers & Sisters” had a 5.0.

On CBS’s procedural block of “Cold Case” and “Without a Trace,” both shows earned a 4.3, helping to place the network in third place. “Cold Case” drew its highest audience this season.

NBC counterprogrammed against the World Series with a “Heroes” marathon, rerunning the second (2.3), third (2.5) and fourth (2.5) episodes of the breakout series.

On Saturday, Game 1 of the World Series was the top-rated program for the night (3.4), a 26 percent decline from last year’s Game 1.

NBC’s “Kidnapped,” which moved from Wednesday to Saturday, performed at an all-time low of 1.2

Going into Friday night, the second episode of NBC’s “1 vs. 100” game show held most of the viewers that made it the top show last week. Once again, the program won the night with a 3.7 rating among adults 18 to 49. While that was a 12 percent drop from the show’s premiere, the new game show attracted a larger audience than its lead-in, “Deal or No Deal,” which garnered a 2.8. Both shows had similar total audiences, but “100” drew more of the younger viewers coveted by advertisers.

On Fox, “Trading Spouses” returned Friday for two back-to-back episodes that garnered a 1.3 and a 1.6, respectively, on par with Fox’s recent other fare in that time period. On ABC, the season premiere of “Extreme Makeover” earned a 1.4, while “Men in Trees” built to a 1.6.