Fox striking out with World Series

Morning Ratings Report - Rick Kissell

Auds not attracted to Fox's 'Girls'

Series no hit, at least in East

The World Series continued to draw disappointing ratings for Fox on Tuesday, with Game 3 of the series between the Anaheim Angels and San Francisco Giants mustering a 12.5 rating/19 share in metered-market overnights, according to Nielsen, a 28% falloff from last year's 17.4/26 for the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks. Through the first two games, the Fall Classic was trailing last year's results by 13%.

The relatively tame score for the World Series allowed other nets, especially ABC, to step up and deliver strong ratings. The Alphabet net, led by "8 Simple Rules" (a best-since-premiere 5.9/17 in adults 18-49, 13.9 million viewers overall) and "According to Jim" (a series record 6.0/15), delivered its best 18-49 average for a Tuesday (5.3) since last November. Net's middle-hour block of "Life With Bonnie" (4.5/11) and "Less Than Perfect" (4.0/10) is looking solid but not quite as impressive, and "NYPD Blue" closed the night out with its season high (5.7/14, 14.2 million viewers overall).

ABC led the night in preliminary nationals (5.3 to Fox's 5.2), but Fox is expected to move ahead in the nationals.

CBS remained on top in total viewers despite a fourth-place finish in adults 18-49 (3.5/9), led in the demo by "Judging Amy" (4.1/11, 14.4 million viewers overall).

NBC saw its early-hour laffer combo of "Just Shoot Me" (2.9/8 in 18-49) and "In-Laws" (3.3/8) improve week-to-week but remain fourth. A repeat "Frasier" led all entertainment programming at 9 (4.8/12), and new comedy "Hidden Hills" retained a strong 94% of that aud (4.5/10).

Preliminary nightly adults 18-49 averages: ABC, 5.3/13; Fox, 5.2/13; NBC, 3.9/10; CBS, 3.5/9.

Preliminary nightly total viewer averages: Fox, 15.4 million; CBS, 14.1 million; ABC, 12.6 million; NBC, 9.2 million.