THE SKED; Sunday Ratings - Network Scorecard

Once upon a time in the fairy-tale world of broadcast television, there was a network that got exactly what it most wished for...

ABC:  And that network was ABC.  ONCE UPON A TIME launched beautifully against male-skewing football and baseball, and was actually within hailing distance of the first half hour of the World Series and Sunday Night Football at 8:30PM (admittedly a wicked witch had cursed the football game, but we'll get to that).  Next week the competition gets a lot tougher with the traditionally very strong "Treehosue of Horror" episode of The Simpsons, but for now it's a tremendous success story.  Once Upon A Time even lifted the leaky boat of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES to a more tolerable level, although it couldn't do anything for PAN AM, which won't last forever with its current sub-2 rating.

CBS:  The network had the late afternoon football game, so 60 MINUTES received a boost.  THE GOOD WIFE was down by a tick, which isn't good when you don't have many ticks to spare.  CSI MIAMI was also down, but that's probably attributable to the unusual baseball competition on FOX.

FOX:  I'm probably representative of much of America in finding it interesting to hear that this year's Series is a good one, but not enough to actually watch a game.  The Series to date is barely avoiding baseball's basement, but Game 6 should perk up on Wednesday, and a Game 7 would make FOX's month.

NBC:  SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL is disproportionately important for NBC due to the awfulness of its regular schedule, so a game that starts out with a 2-touchdown point spread and turns into a 55-point blowout is a nightmare.  Next week's game should rebound somewhat, as Dallas and Philadelphia are both marquee teams despite their mediocre records this season.