Ratings: CBS dominates Friday, World Series weakens

CBS' combination of Ghost Whisperer (9.9 million viewers) and Numb3rs (9.1 million, pictured ) once again proved that mystery pays in the wasteland of Friday TV. According to preliminary Nielsen estimates, The Eye network averaged 8.2 million viewers for the night, beating second-place NBC by 2.4 million, though romantic dramedy The Ex List remains a weak spot from 9-10 p.m. with a mere 5.6 million. The CW, meanwhile, continues to struggle with its relocated comedy lineup: Everybody Hates Chris (1.8 million) and The Game (1.7 million). NBC's new adventure drama Crusoe (5.9 million) won the 9 p.m. hour but lost 1.5 million viewers since last week.

ABC tackled Saturday with a Penn State/Ohio State college football matchup, averaging 9.4 million for the night — and beating Game 3 of the Philadelphia vs. Tampa Bay World Series, which gave Fox just 7.3 million viewers for the evening and ranked among the lowest-ever for a World Series game.

Fox did manage to win Sunday with Game 4, averaging 16 million (helped, no doubt, by a down-to-the-wire Giants vs. Steelers football lead-in), though the numbers were still down about 21 percent from the same game last year. Football-less NBC couldn't score against the likes of CBS' 60 Minutes (12.5 million) and ABC's Desperate Housewives (15.6 million), despite calling The 40-Year-Old Virgin (4.5 million) off the bench.

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