• by Wayne Friedman , October 23, 2008

With Fox's World Series in the way, some new and second-year scripted network shows continued to struggle. 

Both NBC's "Knight Rider"--at a Nielsen 2.2 rating/6 share among 18-49 viewers--and ABC's "Pushing Daisies," at a 1.9/5, continue to look for improving signs. Both shows air at 8 p.m. "Daisies" was at its same numbers versus a week ago, while "Knight Rider" slipped a bit from a 2.3/6.

It's worse news for NBC's second-year show "Lipstick Jungle," which is down to a 1.7 rating/4 share at 10 p.m. "Dirty Sexy Money"--another ABC second-year show--did not fare much better, with a 1.9/5 for the night. Both NBC and ABC 10 p.m. shows could not even get close to CBS' "CSI: NY," which again pulled in a strong number--3.9/10--to win the time period.

The brighter news for new shows comes from ABC's "Private Practice," which maintains a three-plus rating, now at a 3.0/8 this week. Its resiliency is one reason the network has ordered up more episodes this season.

CBS also got better news for its new comedy "Gary Unmarried," which airs at 8:30 p.m. It moved up to a 2.5/7 from a 2.3/6 the week before. CBS' "Criminal Minds" also scored well--the best non-sports show of the night with a 4.1/10, coming in second at 9 p.m. to World Series.

Fox easily won the night because of the first World Series game between the Tampa Bay Rays and Philadelphia Phillies, which earned a 4.8/13 among 18-49 viewers. On the down side, these numbers were off 15% from last year's first game contest between the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies. Still, it was better than the open games of the 2005 and 2006 World Series.

For the night among 18-49 viewers, Fox had a 4.4/12. CBS was second at a 3.5/9, and ABC earned a 2.3/6, followed by NBC with a 1.9/5 and Univision with a 1.7/4. CW was next at a 1.6/4 for the night. Its America's "Next Top Model" improved big-time to a 2.1/6 among 18-49 viewers from a 1.5/4, its best number this year. It also scored its best 18-34 viewer numbers, a 2.3/7.