• by Wayne Friedman , October 28, 2010

Fox's first game of the World Series pulled in 25% less ratings than a year ago -- but much of this was expected.

The San Francisco Giants beat the Texas Rangers in game one 11-7, and tallied a Nielsen 4.6 rating/13 share against 18-49 viewers. But analysts say these numbers are not much of a surprise, especially against a year ago when the storied and big-market baseball team, the New York Yankees, played the Philadelphia Phillies.

That said, other networks generally weren't hurt much at all. CBS was down almost 10% to a still respectable 3.0 rating/8 share from a 3.2 rating the week before. Two other networks, ABC and CW, actually grew -- ABC to a 2.7/8 from a 2.6 rating the week before. CW added one-tenth of a rating point to a 1.1/3, and Univision was at a 1.8/5 -- the same as a week before.

Only NBC lost a significant part of its audience week-to-week -- much of the loss resulting from the move into reruns for "Law & Order: SVU" and "Law & Order: LA" for its 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. hours, respectively. It sank to a 1.3/4, down from a 2.2 rating the week before.

As opposed to most broadcast shows, ABC's "Modern Family" went against the trend -- moving even higher this week to a dominating 5.1/13 up from a 4.7 the previous week. World Series or not, it continues to be the best-rated show on Wednesdays.

The next-best on Wednesday were CBS' "Survivor: Nicaragua" at a 3.5/10 -- the same numbers as a week ago -- and "Criminal Minds," also at a 3.5 rating (but a 9 share). It was down from a 3.7 rating the week before.

NBC's rookie show "Undercovers" remains under the radar, with a 1.4/4 versus a 1.5 rating the week before.

CW did better primarily because it went with an original "Hellcats" versus the week before; earlier in the night, an original "America's Next Top Model" offered up similar ratings.