Nellie Andreeva

After a lousy ALCS championship series and a slow start to the World Series, Fox got cooking last night with a thrilling 11-inning Game 6, which forced a rare World Series Game 7 (we hadn’t had one in nine years). It’s a dream come true for Fox executives and a nightmare for NBC ones whose Friday premieres of Grimm and Chuck tonight will have to face that game. (CBS has opted to sub its originals with repeats at the last minute.) The big game last night, which will propel Fox to an easy nightly win in 18-49 and total viewers when time-adjusted ratings are released, impacted the competition in a typical pattern, pushing down male-skewing shows like CBS’ The Big Bang Theory and Person Of Interest and NBC’s Community and The Office, while boosting female-oriented series such as ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice, NBC’s Whitney and the CW’s The Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle.

Maybe ABC should’ve tried a Charlie’s Angels series with Charlie Brown as the boss. Last night, a rerun of the 45-year-old cartoon It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown at 8 PM drew a 2.3/6 among 18-49, which was higher than any episode of the canceled Charlie’s Angels in the slot. Vs. last year, the Charlie Brown animated special was up 5%. Grey’s Anatomy (3.7/9) was up 3% from last week, and Private Practice up 4%.

CBS’ The Big Bang Theory was down 12% from its Thursday high last week, Rules Of Engagement (3.4/9) was down 6% and Person Of Interest (2.6/6) was down 4%, while the more female-skewing The Mentalist (2.5/6) was flat. CBS (3.2/9, 12.6 million) finished second on the night behind Fox.

Most of NBC’s comedies took a bloodbath. Community (1.4/4) was down 18% from its last original two weeks ago, Parks and Recreation (1.8/5) was down 14% and The Office (2.8/7) was down 15%. Whitney, on the other hand, was up 5% for what NBC touts as the freshman’s highest lead-in retention (75%) since premiere week. The ubiquitous reruns are not helping new drama Prime Suspect (1.2/3), which was down 8% for a series low.

The CW’s The Vampire Diaries (3.2 million, 1.4/4 in 18-49, 1.5/5 in 18-34) hit a season high in total viewers, was flat in 18-49 and up 7% in 18-34. The Secret Circle (2.3 million, 1.0/2 in 18-49, 1.0/3 in 18-34) was up 10% in total viewers and 11% in both 18-49 and 18-34.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.