• by Wayne Friedman , October 22, 2010

Fox took a bite out of virtually everyone on Thursday night -- except CBS, which maintained its strong leadership in Thursday night ratings.

Fox's National League Championship series between the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies boosted the network's fortunes to a Nielsen preliminary 2.8 rating/8 share among 18-49 viewers for the night. Fox was at a 2.3 rating a week ago.

ABC and NBC both took a hit -- ABC down to a 2.7/8 from a 2.9 a week before, and NBC sinking to a 2.1/6 from a 2.4 the previous week. Univision also went higher to a 1.8 rating/5 share, up from a 1.7 rating a week ago.

CBS maintained its Thursday lead with a 3.3 rating/8 share, the exact numbers it had a week ago. Where "The Big Bang Theory" and "The Mentalist" all took a bit of a tumble, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" added on three-tenths of a rating point to a 3.4 rating/9 share. "$#*! My Dad Says" stayed the same at a 3.1/9.

"Big Bang" was the big rating draw on the night among 18-49 viewers, a 4.0/13, down from a 4.2 rating last week.

ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" also went lower to a 4.0 rating/10 share, down from a 4.5. For the night overall, the network is still struggling as it tries to come up with a winning formula in the 8 p.m. time slot. It's now running "Grey" reruns. "Private Practice" at 10 p.m. was a bit lower, with a 2.8/8 from a 3.1 rating.

Still, ABC led the night for all broadcast networks among younger 18-34 viewers with a 2.4/7, with "Grey's" the second-best-rated show among those viewers at a 3.8/11. NBC's "The Office" was the best at a 3.9/12.

NBC moved south with all its comedies among the key 18-49 group: "Community" was off to a 1.9/6 from a 2.2 rating; "30 Rock" was way down to a 2.2/7 from its 3.1 rating of its special live show the week before. "The Office" dropped to a 3.4/9 from a 3.8; and "Outsourced" to a 2.3/7 from a 2.6. NBC's 10 p.m. "The Apprentice" stayed the same at a 1.3/4.

With fresh programming from "Vampire Diaries" and "Nikita," CW doubled its numbers from a week ago when it was in reruns on the night -- getting to its more usual 1.4/4 on the night among 18-49 viewers and a modest 1.5/5 among its more key 18-34 audience.