Baseball, NFL put Fox on top
'Leno' delivers lowest average ratings to date
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Meanwhile, NBC's "The Jay Leno Show" delivered its lowest weekly demo average to date last week and then got off to a slow start in the current frame. On Monday of this week, "Leno" matched its lowest Nielsen score for any night (1.3 rating/4 share in adults 18-49, 4.70 million viewers overall) -- despite facing a repeat of timeslot leader "CSI: Miami" on CBS.
NBC had stressed that Leno's value could be heightened when it airs opposite repeats of the top 10 p.m. dramas, but that didn't happen in its first opportunity.
As for last week, the show's average 18-49 rating of 1.5 is below the 1.7 it had earned the previous three weeks and is well below the 2.5 that NBC averaged in the 10 o'clock hour last year with dramas.
In part because of baseball making for an additional strong competitor at 10, "Leno" last week placed sixth in 18-49 on Monday and Wednesday, fifth on Tuesday and tied for fourth on Thursday. Among the Big Three, though, the NBC show is competitive with rookie ABC dramas on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
Looking at the same-day Nielsen numbers for the week of Oct. 12-18, Fox led in adults 18-49 with a 3.5 rating/10 share, well ahead of CBS (2.7/8), ABC (2.6/7) and NBC (2.5/7). Univision ran fifth (1.4/4), followed by ESPN (1.3/3) and TBS (1.1/3).
Fox also led in other categories like adults 25-54 (3.9/10 to 3.6/9 for runner-up CBS) and persons 12-34 (2.7/9) but CBS still prevailed in total viewers (10.7 million to 10.3 million for Fox).
Fox, which has moved to the season lead in adults 18-49 (and figures to stay there through May), was led by Sunday's Game 6 of the ALCS between the Yankees and Angels (5.2/14, 15.48m) -- the top-rated postseason baseball game despite opposing "Sunday Night Football" (5.9/15, 14.97m), the week's No. 1 primetime program in 18-49.
Two other baseball games scored well, while its top entertainment performers were Monday's "House" (4.5/11, 11.65m) and Wednesday's "Glee" (3.3/8, 7.16m).
Fox also benefited in a major way from an NFL overrun on Sunday, as the conclusion of late-afternoon games averaged a 12.1 rating in 18-49 from 7 to 7:30 p.m. ET -- more than double the average for any primetime program for the week.
CBS, still the comfortable leader for the season in both adults 25-54 and total viewers, was paced by the Monday comedy coupling of "The Big Bang Theory" (5.3/13 in 18-49, 13.47m) and "Two and a Half Men" (4.8/12, 14.07m) as well as the Tuesday tandem of "NCIS" (4.7/13, 21.25m) and "NCIS: Los Angeles" (3.9/10, 16.48m). "Bang" set series highs in several categories, while "NCIS" was again the week's most-watched primetime program.
The Eye also saw "Survivor" (4.0/12 in 18-39, 12.90m) surge to season highs.
At ABC, "Grey's Anatomy" (5.3/14 in 18-49, 15.06m) was the week's No. 3 program in 18-49 -- and likely will finish No. 1 (ahead of football) when all same-week DVR playback is included.
Other highlights included more good numbers for Thursday skedmates "FlashForward" (3.1/9, 9.87m) and "Private Practice" (3.7/10, 9.93m), and Tuesday's "Dancing With the Stars" results show hit a season high (3.4/9, 14.92m).
Not so hot is the Friday pairing of "Supernanny" (1.1/4, 4.53m) and "Ugly Betty" (1.2/4, 4.42m), while Wednesday rookie "Eastwick" (1.6/4, 4.77m) continues to struggle.
Aside from football, NBC was led by Thursday's "The Office" (4.4/11, 8.73m) and Tuesday's "The Biggest Loser" (3.9/11, 9.82m), with the latter up sharply vs. last year and winning its 9 p.m. hour on Tuesday in 18-49. Also, Wednesday's "Law and Order: SVU" hit season highs (2.8/7, 9.15m).
CW had a quiet week, as "Vampire Diaries" aired a repeat and shows like "Gossip Girl" (1.1/3 in 18-49, 1.98m) and "90210" (1.1/3, 2.25m) were low.
ESPN's big week started with "Monday Night Football" (5.5/14 in 18-49, 13.47m for Broncos-Chargers), which was the frame's No. 2 program in 18-49, and also included good numbers for a college football game on Saturday between Florida and Mississippi State (2.0/7, 5.67m).
Baseball also was a cabler winner, as TBS scored with the final two games of the NLCS between the Phillies and Dodgers on Monday (1.8/5, 5.64m) and Wednesday (2.6/9, 7.98m).
Among entertainment series on cable, most impressive was Comedy Central's "The Jeff Dunham Show," which Thursday bowed to the net's best-ever series preem scores (2.2/6, 5.34m) -- despite facing baseball. It was easily cable's No. 1 show of the night in 18-49 and all key male demos.
Also Thursday, Bravo's "Real Housewives of Atlanta" ended its second season on a high note (1.6/4 in 18-49, 2.98m), rising 22% above its first-season finale. The highest-rated series in the "Real Housewives" franchise, "Atlanta" won out head-to-head in demos with Lifetime's "Project Runway" (1.3/3, 3.02m).
On Friday, USA's premiere of "White Collar" (1.4/4 in 18-49, 5.40m) drew the time period's largest aud in more than three years.
And on Sunday, Showtime's "Dexter" (0.8/2 in 18-49, 1.68m) was on the rise. Net notes that the show's combined 2.05 million viewers for its two airings rep the most for a single-night Showtime telecast in five years.
