Ratings: Fox Knocks Competition out of the Park

• Oct 26, 2009 05:50 PM ET
• by Adam Bryant

The New York Yankees, Desperate Housewives

Fox's coverage of the American League Championship series Sunday night was the big winner, according to Nielsen's estimates.

The New York Yankees pennant-clinching win over the Los Angeles Angels averaged 15.5 million viewers, making it the night's most-watched show.

Baseball also loosened NBC's stronghold on Sunday nights, as the network's football coverage fell to 12.8 million viewers and second place among adults 18 to 49.

ABC fared best against the sports coverage, as Desperate Housewives (13.8 million viewers) and Brothers & Sisters (10 million) both hit their averages. For CBS, The Amazing Race (11 million) stayed strong, while Three Rivers (7.9 million) and Cold Case (8.8 million) continued to slide.

CBS continues to dominate Friday nights, however, as its Ghost Whisperer-Medium-Numb3rs combo averaged 8.3 million viewers across the night, well above ABC's and Fox's averages of 4.9 million and 2.1 million viewers, respectively.

On cable, USA's White Collar premiere Friday night attracted 5.4 million viewers, a bigger audience than ABC's Ugly Betty (4.5 million viewers), the CW's Smallville (2.5 million) and Fox's Dollhouse (2.2 million).