CBS’s “Criminal Minds” and “CSI: NY” rounded out the top three.

NBC’s and CBS’s telecasts of Sen. Barack Obama’s half-hour political infomercial also made the top 10.

Overall, FOX won the night with an average audience of just over 15.3 million viewers, while CBS took second place with just over 11.9 million average viewers. NBC and ABC claimed third and fourth places with roughly 7.4 million and 6.9 million average viewers, respectively. Univision and the CW followed in fifth and sixth places with average audiences of roughly 4.7 million and 2.8 million average viewers, respectively.

The first half of Game 5, on Monday night, drew 13.2 million average TV viewers — before a rain delay suspended play in the bottom of the sixth inning.

This past weekend, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama faced some tough competition in Pennsylvania. 

With the Phillies playing in the World Series and college and pro football games on both Saturday and Sunday, there was no shortage of TV sports options for politics-weary Pennsylvanians, looking for a break from presidential campaigning.

The action started on Saturday in western Pennsylvania, as the Penn State Nittany Lions took on their Big 10 Rival, the Ohio State Buckeyes.  In nearby Pittsburgh, 20.8% of local TV households watched on ABC as Penn State maintained its undefeated status.

On Sunday, 44.1% of Pittsburgh households — the highest local market rating earned by any NFL game so far this season — tuned in to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers take on the New York Giants.  Sunday’s TV audience topped the Pittsburgh market’s previous season high NFL rating of 41.1, earned when the Steelers played their cross-state rival, the Philadelphia Eagles, on Sunday, Sept. 21.

Across the state in Philadelphia, baseball fans were glued to their tubes this weekend for Games 3 and 4 of the MLB World Series.  On Saturday night, 28.1% of local Philadelphia households tuned in for Game 3, with 93% of that audience staying with the game, through multiple rain delays, until its conclusion at 1:48am EST. 

Undetered by a late night of baseball, Philadelphians were back in front of their televisions Sunday afternoon for the Eagles vs. Atlanta Falcons football game, which earned a 27.9 local household rating.  The TV sports marathon continued into the evening, when 38.9% of local Philadelphia households tuned in to watch Game 4 of the World Series.

Stay tuned on NielsenWire for daily updates on World Series national TV ratings.

Game 5 of the MLB World Series, which aired on FOX, claimed second place, and CBS’s “Two And A Half Men” rounded out the top three.

Overall, ABC won the night with an average audience of almost 14.2 million viewers, while FOX took second place with just over 12.1 million average viewers. CBS and NBC claimed third and fourth places with roughly 9.5 million and 6.7 million average viewers, respectively. Univision and the CW followed in fifth and sixth places with average audiences of just over 4.8 million and 3.1 million average viewers, respectively.

But the late Seventies and early Eighties remain the true glory days of World Series TV viewership.

The 1980 World Series telecasts — the last time the Philadelphia Phillies won a World Series — drew the largest per game TV audiences on record: almost 54.9 million average viewers.

In terms of household ratings, the 1978 (Yankees vs. Los Angeles Dodgers) and 1980 World Series telecasts drew the highest ever ratings (since 1968, when Nielsen started keeping track), with an average of 32.8% of all U.S. households tuning in, per telecast, during both Series.

In comparison World Series TV audiences in the last decade have hovered between 15 million and 25 million U.S. viewers, on average, each year.

Last year, FOX’s broadcasts of games one through four of the Colorado Rockies vs. Boston Red Sox series drew an average of 17.1 million viewers per telecast — up slightly from almost 15.8 million viewers in 2006, the smallest World Series TV audience on record.  (Nielsen’s World Series TV audience data dates back to 1973).

View complete game by game historical TV ratings for World Series telecasts from 1968 to present.

View series average historical World Series TV ratings from 1968 to present.