• by Wayne Friedman , October 30, 2009

World Series teams each have a victory through the first two games -- but Fox has been the winner on both nights.

On Thursday -- for the second game of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies -- Fox rose to a Nielsen preliminary 5.8 rating, which would be its best-rated World Series game two in five years.

Fox landed in first place -- two full rating points ahead of second-place ABC. Fox reached 19.0 million overall viewers. The night before, on Wednesday -- the first game of the World Series -- Fox had 19.5 million viewers and a 6.3 rating among 18-49 viewers. That is a massive 31% improvement in that demo over the first game a year ago, which earned a 4.8.

Wednesday and Thursday witnessed virtually all of the big TV programs getting lower ratings as a result. But on Thursday, it appeared to hit older-skewing shows hardest.

ABC's top-rated "Grey's Anatomy" slipped 4% to a 5.1 rating/12 share in the 18-49 rating. CBS's "Survivor: Samoa" dropped 8% to a 3.7/10, and ABC's "Private Practice" was at a 3.6/9, down 3%. CBS' "The Mentalist" was flat at a 3.5/9, and "CSI" moved down 6% to a 3.4/8.

The biggest hit was taken by ABC's "FlashForward," which sank to its lowest number to date, a 2.7/8 among 18-49 viewers -- down 13%.

But some younger-oriented shows not only went unscathed, they thrived -- especially at the CW. "Vampire Diaries" took its best 18-34 numbers so far. On Halloween eve, it scared up a 2.3 rating/7 share. The show's women 18-34 viewers got to a 3.1/9, tying its series high. "Supernatural" scored its best ratings of the season in adults 18-34, with a 1.4/4.

NBC's new sitcom "Community" was also surprisingly higher -- some 11% to a 2.1/6 among 18-49 viewers.

Overall for the night, the numbers revealed Fox winning both 18-49 and 18-34 numbers with a 5.8 rating and a 4.8 rating, respectively. (Share data is not released until the final numbers are determined.)

Next best was ABC -- coming in second in both categories, with a 3.8 rating/10 share in 18-49 viewers and a 3.6/10 in 18-34. CBS was third in 18-49 viewers, earning a 3.5/9 -- and fourth in 18-34 viewers, with a 2.2/6.

NBC fared better with the younger audience on Thursday, earning a 2.6/8 among 18-34 viewers and a 2.4/6 with 18-49 viewers. CW moved up a notch from its usual sixth-place spot behind Univision, to reach fifth place among both 18-49 viewers (1.7/4) and 18-34 viewers (1.9/5). Univision earned a 1.3/3 for 18-49 viewers and a 1.4/4 for 18-34 viewers.