TV Ratings : CBS Goes 5 for 5 With Series

The World Series was a home run for CBS. The five games last week not only topped the list of the week’s most-watched programs, they also propelled the network to its highest weekly rating since 1984. CBS averaged a 19.4 rating for the week in prime time, compared to 12.4 for NBC, 12 for ABC and 7.3 for Fox. (Each rating point represents 921,000 homes.) CBS said that the average rating for the seven World Series games was the highest since 1987 and 15% better than last year’s four-game contest between Cincinnati and Oakland. The network also estimated that nearly 100 million people saw at least part of the final game on Sunday. The full list of ratings is on F10.

* Football didn’t exactly get lost in the baseball shuffle. ABC’s Monday night game between Cincinnati and Buffalo finished 13th among the week’s 88 prime-time programs, attracting viewers in about 15.7 million homes. Still, that wasn’t enough to win the time period. NBC did that with its Danielle Steel movie “Palomino,” which drew about 16.9 million homes and ranked No. 8. NBC’s other Steel movie, “Daddy,” did even better on Wednesday against the World Series, placing No. 6.

Show Points Share 1. “World Series Game 7” (CBS) 32.2 49 2. “World Series Game 6” (CBS) 25.4 44 3. “World Series Game 3” (CBS) 23.4 39 4. “World Series Game 5” (CBS) 22.9 37 “World Series Game 4” (CBS) 22.9 36 * “Monday Night Football” (ABC) 17.0 29