• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, October 22, 2004

Big baseball ratings for Fox should mean only one thing -- home runs for its new shows set to debut in November.

But as we all know, you need to swing and miss a lot before you get a hit.

The Boston Red Sox - New York Yankees Game 7 of the League Championship Series posted the highest adult 18 to 49 rating this year, an 11.8, with 31.46 million viewers. Viewers numbers are up 7 percent over last year's Red Sox - Yankees LCS Game 7 and the best rated game since Game 7 of the 2001 World Series featuring the Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Though baseball ratings maybe high, it's not an automatic that Fox will launch any new shows in November. This is a trend that has gone on for years with Fox and baseball. Last year, Fox could not help a "Skin" or "A Minute With Stan Hooper" or other shows.

This baseball playoff season's four shows are seemingly getting the bulk of the promotion time: "Arrested Development," "House," "Rebel Billionaire," and "My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss." With these shows, Fox could be taking a page from ABC's marketing book -- that is, focusing on a handful of shows, rather than spreading thin the promo time across its entire primetime lineup, which will debut in November.

Back in the spring, Fox set up its primetime program debut season into three marketing periods - in June, when it launched the five shows; then in November, after the baseball playoffs; and finally in January, when it brings back "American Idol." Already Fox admitted its marketing efforts in the summer had a tough task in handling five new summer shows.

Though Fox is in the middle of its ambitious plan, one has to wonder if there is a better way. Already it feels like too much stopping and starting with Fox's primetime lineup.

For instance, much criticism has been targeted at Fox's claiming that it should have done more in September to hype "Arrested Development" soon after it had won the Emmy for best comedy series.

But since Fox's schedule is all baseball all the time, there is no room to maneuver. October has meant the network's own kind of arrested development.