Nellie Andreeva

Fox did not catch a break with the World series this year. First, none of the big TV audience draws, The Yankees or the Red Sox, made it to the final, sending ratings down double-digits for the opening games. Then the Giants swept the series in four games. The NLCS championship series at least went to seven games, but Fox could’ve used three more nights of World Series ratings instead of reruns in a fall season it’s been struggling, down double-digits from last year. To make things worse, the deciding Game 4 went against football on NBC, which won the face-off. In the time-adjusted metered market households, Sunday Night Football drew a 11.4 rating/17 share vs. 10.6/16 for the World Series. The Broncos-Saints SNF game was virtually even with last week’s 11.7 rating against Game 6 of the NLCS series. Fox still won the night in 18-49 with help from an NFL overrun.

The MVP Award for last night goes to ABC’s Once Upon a Time (3.4/8), which, against SNF and the World Series, was up a tenth from last Sunday to finish as the No.1 drama of the week in adults 18-49 and post a second consecutive week of ratings gains. It was helped by America’s Funniest Home Videos (1.6/4, up 23%) which bounced back from last week when it faced the big hourlong NFL overrun on CBS. ABC’s freshman 666 Park Ave (1.6/4) showed that last week’s uptick was probably a fluke, down 6%.

At CBS, 60 Minutes (1.7/4) and The Amazing Race (2.4/6) were both down (by 53% and 8%, respectively) from last week when they followed a football overrun. The Good Wife also slipped a tenth from last Sunday when it aired at 10 PM, while The Mentalist (1.8/4) rebounded, up 20% from last week when its start time was pushed to 10:56 PM on the East Coast.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.