Ratings for Rockies-Red Sox Opener Have Fox Swinging for the Fences

Game 1 of the World Series clocked the biggest audience since the St. Louis vs. Boston series kickoff in '04.

Nearly 17 million people watched the Red Sox' 13-1 thumping of the Rockies Wednesday on Fox.

Back in '04, Game 1 logged 23.2 million viewers, which is all the more impressive because it aired on a Saturday, when broadcast TV viewing levels typically are at their lowest.

Last year's Saturday Game 1 averaged 13 million viewers.

Several series did just fine opposite Wednesday's game. ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff, "Private Practice," was up week-to-week, as was CW's "Gossip Girl"; CBS's "Kid Nation" scored its biggest crowd since the first episode.

But "Bionic Woman" and "Life" on NBC suffered their lowest numbers on record.

"Bionic" is now tracking at about half its premiere audience. Some responsibility for its low numbers might be traced to its lead-in show, the unveiling of the NBC reality series "Phenomenon," which served up fewer than 9 million viewers.

One week earlier, NBC's screaming-at-briefcases series, "Deal or No Deal," handed "Bionic" a lead-in audience of more than 12 million.

Among the 18-to-49-year-olds NBC sells to advertisers, "Phenomenon" was the network's lowest-rated series premiere of the season.

On the other hand, "Bionic" has its own problems -- like a revolving door of executive producers. Most recently, "Friday Night Lights" executive producer Jason Katims has been filling in while continuing on "Lights," but he's vacating to make way for "permanent" replacement Jason Cahill, who most recently was a co-exec producer on CBS's struggling new Tuesday soap, "Cane."

* * *

Speaking of "Cane," CBS has ordered four more scripts, instead of nine, for more episodes of the Jimmy Smits scenery-chewer, which is not a great sign. Ditto its new Friday vampire drama, "Moonlight."

* * *

And, in other Fox news, the network has given a full-season order to its new sitcom "Back to You," in which Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton stretch the bounds of credibility as egomaniacal bits of on-air talent.

They play local newscasters, which is how you know it's fiction.

This is the first new Fox series to get a full-season order, and considering the show last week averaged an unspectacular 7 million viewers and just 2.4 percent of the 18-to-49-year-old viewers Fox sells to advertisers, it's a bit of a head scratcher.