Cashing in on Cubs, Sox Misery

Assuming you weren't playing or rooting for a team of the damned, this was a pretty cool week to be in the baseball biz.

Fox got fat with Babe Ruth-sized TV ratings. King of Queens star Kevin James beefed up his résumé with a movie deal inspired by a now-infamous fan-in-the-stands play. And the New York Yankees and Florida Marlins gave supporters hefty emotional boosts.

Isn't it great not to be cursed?

While the star-crossed Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox franchises begin the fruitless countdown to next spring, Fox is busy enjoying a fruitful fall.

Wednesday's deciding game seven of the National League Championship Series, which saw the spunky Marlins leave the hometown Cubs fans in tears, was caught by an estimated 26.5 million, Nielsen Media Research said.

That's more viewers--24 percent more--than watched last January's Golden Globes on NBC.

Thursday's American League version of the win-or-go-home game seven, which saw the pinstriped Yankees rip the hearts out of the Red Sox nation (again), was witnessed by 27.5 million, per Nielsen.

That's more viewers--7 percent more--than watched the final competition night on American Idol last May on Fox.

Through Wednesday, ratings for the two championship series, which both ran as long as they could run, with the Yankees-Red Sox thriller even extending into extra innings, were up 55 percent from last year's Fox coverage.

And that isn't even the most impressive stat of this October's baseball run. In Boston on Thursday night, an estimated 81 percent of all TVs in use were fixed to the Red Sox's extension of its 85-year World Series title drought. In Chicago on Wednesday night, 61 percent of all Windy City tubes were tuned to the Cubs' 58th consecutive year of pennant futility.

Correctly guessing that the TV nation is comprised of millions and millions of masochists, CBS and NBC chose to surrender.

On Wednesday, NBC opted to have a Law & Order: Criminal Intent repeat get killed by the Cubs-Marlins game rather than its previously scheduled all-new West Wing. On Thursday, CBS sent reruns of CSI and Without a Trace in for the slaughter, while NBC countered with an entire evening of oldies, including a special Whoopi repeat, which ran fourth in its time slot.

ABC, being in the position of not really having any viewers on Thursday night, baseball or no, chose to proceed with its schedule as planned. Not that anyone noticed.

NBC, meanwhile, is feeling its oats again. Having contemplated more repeats in the event of a Cubs-seeded World Series, according to the Associated Press, it'll bring back the heavy artillery to battle what's perceived as a weaker Yankees-Marlins fall-classic matchup.

While the World Series numbers are not expected to match the playoff ratings, Fox can't say baseball hasn't been very, very good to it this month. Neither can Kevin James.

On Wednesday, one day after 26-year-old Cubs die-hard Steve Bartman reached for a foul ball from his seat and prevented Cubs outfielder Moises Alou from nabbing what the player saw as a sure out, James pitched and scored a deal to star in a comedy about a fan who similarly, and seemingly, dooms his team.

Fan Interference may be shot as soon as next spring, during James' hiatus from King of Queens. Revolution Studios says it's looking for a screenwriter ASAP to work with James.

To be on the safe side, don't buy your box seats to the movie just yet. Ripped-from-the-sports-headlines projects have been known to stall. Last fall, producer Larry Cano (Silkwood) proposed the big-screen flick Rally Monkey, about the cute capuchin that inspired the Anaheim Angels to World Series glory. But Disney, which owned the Angels at the time, objected, saying "Rally Monkey" was its protected trademark. On Friday, Cano attorney William Levin said his client was in talks with the Angels' new owner. "It's still a great movie," Levin said. "It's still a great message."

The James flick is described as inspired by, and not based on, the Steve Bartman incident. The details likely hardly matter to Bartman, currently the nation's number-one marked fan.

Prior to Tuesday night, Bartman was a no-profile consulting-firm employee who coached youth baseball on the side. Then, with the Cubs five outs away from the World Series, he caught a foul ball, instead of Alou, and his beloved team promptly fell apart, en route to losing the series.

Ever since, Bartman has been: Dissed by the governor of Illinois; accused on the Web of causing the Hindenburg disaster, among others; and impersonated for the purposes of a Howard Stern fan's on-air phone prank to ESPN. All of this would explain that police detail outside the guy's suburban Chicago home.

"I am truly sorry from the bottom of this Cubs fan's broken heart," Bartman said in a statement Wednesday.

As Fox could attest, really big ratings mean never, ever having to say you're sorry.