Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings: A Ratings Grand Slam for Fox

Thu Nov 5, 6:45 PM ET

-Yesterday's Winners:
Baseball World Series, Game 6 (Fox), Criminal Minds (CBS), CSI: NY (CBS)

-Honorable Mention:
Modern Family (ABC)

-Yesterday's Losers:
Hank (ABC), The Jay Leno Show (NBC), Eastwick (ABC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
Fox, no doubt, dominated the Wednesday overnights, with the sixth (and final) game of the Yankees/Phillies Baseball World Series match-up at a series- high 15.2 rating/24 share in primetime. Congratulations, Yankees! Comparably, that beat the Big 3 nets � ABC, CBS and NBC � combined. Here is the half-hour breakdown:

Baseball World Series, Game 6 (Fox)
8:00 p.m.: 13.1/22
8:30 p.m.: 15.2/24
9:00 p.m.: 16.5/25
9:30 p.m.: 16.1/25
10:00 p.m.: 15.5/24
10:30 p.m.: 12.5/20

Keep in mind, of course, that results for any live sporting event are always approximate.

CBS lost some steam opposite baseball, as did ABC and NBC, but there was still plenty of interest from 9-11 p.m. The Eye net finished second in every half-hour with its combination of The New Adventures of Old Christine (4.4/ 7), which heads into off-network syndication next fall, Gary Unmarried (4.2/ 6), Criminal Minds (7.8/12) and CSI: NY (7.8/13).

Next was NBC care of full season renewed freshman medical drama Mercy (#3, 4.2/ 6), which defines the word generic, relocated Law & Order: SVU (#3, 5.1/ 8), which continues to lose to Criminal Minds, and ongoing dud The Jay Leno Show (#3, 3.6/ 6). If NBC drops Leno after this first very long season, the first thing it should do is move SVU back into the Tuesday 10 p.m. hour.

Over at ABC, laugh-challenged Hank remains incapable of anchoring the evening with a fourth-place 3.5/ 6 in the overnights at 8 p.m. Every time I watch (and I am not sure why I do), I keep expecting David Hyde Pierce to stop by and tell Kelsey Grammer this is all a bad dream. Maybe that could be the final episode. Next was Malcolm in the Middle-like The Middle (#4: 3.8/ 6 at 8:30 p.m.), which is worthy of a larger audience, followed by Modern Family (#3: 5.1/ 8), Cougar Town (#4: 4.4/ 7) and sure-to-be axed Eastwick (#4: 3.0/ 5) from 9-11 p.m. Note to the producers of Cougar Town: please, and I speak for the entire audience, no more lengthy pool scenes with Ian Gomez. What the heck was that last night?

Worth noting for ABC was overnight growth of 34 percent for Modern Family out of The Middle (and another expected solid performance among adults 18-49). Expect Modern Family to garner plenty of Emmy interest.

The CW capped off the evening with aging America's Next Top Model (#5, 2.8/ 4), which was down by 10 percent from last year's 3.1/ 5 (on Nov. 5, 2008), and a repeat of The Vampire Diaries (#5: 1.1/ 2).

Wednesday 11/04/09

HH
Rtg/Shr

Fox 15.2/24
CBS 6.6/10
NBC 4.3/ 7
ABC 3.8/ 6
CW 1.9/ 3

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-Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Wednesday, November 5, 2008):

Fox: +181, NBC: no change, CBS: - 7, CW: -21, ABC: -47
(Note: Fox aired Bones and a repeat of House on the year-ago evening)

Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat)