PRIME-TIME TV RANKINGS

Fox Broadcasting’s coverage of the first four games of the World Series drew 45% more viewers than a year ago, making the network a runaway winner in the weekly prime-time ratings race.

With World Series games taking the top three spots, Fox averaged 14.68 million viewers for its prime-time programming between Oct. 26 and Sunday, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Co.

The New York Yankees’ 7-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 4 on Sunday was the week’s most-watched program with 22.76 million viewers. It was also the most-watched Game 4 since 2004, when the Boston Red Sox wrapped up their first World Series title since 1918.

The four games averaged 19.14 million viewers, compared to 13.18 million for the first four games of last year’s series between the Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays.

In a week when its Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday schedules consisted entirely of reruns, CBS was second, averaging 9.84 million viewers, after finishing first each of the first five weeks of the season.

Without “Sunday Night Football,” NBC was a distant fourth, averaging 5.59 million viewers. “Sunday Night Football” traditionally does not air during the World Series.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Oct. 26-Nov. 1) as compiled by Nielsen Co. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Nielsen estimates there are 286 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* Program Network Viewers *--*

*--* 1 World Series, Game 4: New York at Philadelphia FOX 22.76 2 World Series, Game 1: Philadelphia at New York FOX 19.51 3 World Series, Game 2: Philadelphia at New York FOX 18.90 4 World Series Pregame (Sun.) FOX 17.81 5 Dancing With the Stars ABC 17.38 *--*

*--* 6 NCIS CBS 16.70 7 The OT FOX 16.61 8 The Mentalist CBS 15.53 9 World Series, Game 3: New York at Philadelphia FOX 15.40 10 CSI CBS 15.24 *--*

*--* 11 Dancing With the Stars Results ABC 15.20 12 Desperate Housewives ABC 14.08 13 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 13.74 14 60 Minutes CBS 12.94 15 Survivor: Samoa CBS 12.19 *--*

*--* 16 CSI: Miami CBS 11.52 17 Two and a Half Men CBS 11.41 18 The Amazing Race CBS 11.22 19 NCIS: Los Angeles CBS 11.09 20 The Big Bang Theory CBS 10.85 *--*

*--* 21 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 10.75 22 Castle ABC 9.99 23 Criminal Minds CBS 9.89 24 The Biggest Loser NBC 9.67 25 Brothers & Sisters ABC 9.46 *--*

*--* CSI: NY CBS 9.46 27 The Good Wife CBS 9.34 28 Modern Family ABC 9.32 29 Private Practice ABC 9.15 30 Cold Case CBS 9.02 *--*

*--* 31 FlashForward ABC 8.92 32 Special: “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” (Tue.) ABC 8.80 33 Ghost Whisperer CBS 8.29 34 The Forgotten ABC 8.26 35 Law & Order: SVU NBC 8.24 *--*

*--* 36 The Office NBC 8.21 37 Dateline (Fri.) NBC 8.00 38 Numb3rs CBS 7.88 39 Medium CBS 7.82 40 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 7.79 *--*

*--* 41 Three Rivers CBS 7.70 42 Cougar Town ABC 7.54 43 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 7.33 44 Law & Order NBC 7.07 45 48 Hours Mystery CBS 6.96 *--*

*--* Special: “Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins From NBC 6.96 Outer Space” (8 p.m.) 47 How I Met Your Mother CBS 6.94 48 College Football: USC at Oregon/Texas at Oklahoma ABC 6.83 49 The Middle ABC 6.49 50 So You Think You Can Dance (Tue.) FOX 6.47 *--*

*--* 51 Lie to Me FOX 6.33 52 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 6.24 53 30 Rock NBC 6.10 54 The Jay Leno Show (Tue.) NBC 6.06 55 Special: “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” (Wed.) ABC 6.00 *--*

*--* 56 Accidentally on Purpose CBS 5.89 Gary Unmarried CBS 5.89 58 So You Think You Can Dance (Mon.) FOX 5.85 59 Trauma NBC 5.77 60 Heroes NBC 5.72 *--*

*--* 61 Special: “Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins From NBC 5.53 Outer Space” (8:30 p.m.) 62 Community NBC 5.32 63 CSI (Sat.) CBS 5.25 64 Sortilegio (Tue.) UNI 5.06 65 The Jay Leno Show (Wed.) NBC 5.03 *--*

*--* 66 Eastwick ABC 5.02 67 The Jay Leno Show (Fri.) NBC 4.98 68 Sortilegio (Wed.) UNI 4.87 69 Sortilegio (Mon.) UNI 4.81 70 Parks and Recreation NBC 4.80 *--*

*--* 71 CSI: Miami (Sat.) CBS 4.78 72 Sortilegio (Thu.) UNI 4.70 The Jay Leno Show (Mon.) NBC 4.70 74 Supernanny ABC 4.67 75 Movie: “National Treasure” NBC 4.65 *--*

*--* 76 The Cleveland Show (Sat.) FOX 4.62 77 The Jay Leno Show (Thu.) NBC 4.41 78 Ugly Betty ABC 4.26 79 College Football Pregame ABC 4.21 80 The Vampire Diaries CW 4.18 *--*

*--* 81 En Nombre del Amor (Mon.) UNI 4.15 82 Sortilegio (Fri.) UNI 4.09 83 En Nombre del Amor (Wed.) UNI 4.01 84 En Nombre del Amor (Tue.) UNI 3.98 85 En Nombre del Amor (Thu.) UNI 3.92 *--*

*--* 86 House (Fri.) FOX 3.68 87 En Nombre del Amor (Fri.) UNI 3.56 88 America’s Next Top Model CW 3.51 89 Aqui y Ahora UNI 3.24 90 Un Gancho al Corazon (Wed.) UNI 3.22 *--*

*--* 91 Un Gancho al Corazon (Mon.) UNI 3.06 92 Football Night in America, Part 2 NBC 3.05 *--*

*--* Network averages Here is the number of viewers (in millions) that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season. Network Last week Season to date FOX 14.68 9.98 CBS 9.84 12.08 ABC 9.45 10.02 NBC 5.59 7.54 UNI 3.25 3.58 *--*