And for his 40th Halloween outing, Charlie Brown got a bunch of rocks.

Going up against the much maligned World Series on Fox, ABC's annual autumnal offering of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown had its worst outing perhaps ever, placing 58th in the latest Nielsen Media Research rankings.

The hourlong anniversary presentation of the 1966 cartoon classic was watched by 7.8 million. That's the lowest tally since ABC began airing the special in 2001, and it's lower than any tally on the books going back to 1996, at predecessor CBS.

Last year on ABC, 11 million sat in silent witness to Linus' Great Pumpkin fiasco.

The difference this year appears to have been the World Series, which played its fifth and concluding game Friday and aired opposite Charlie Brown during the 8-9 p.m. hour.

The St. Louis Cardinals' championship-clinching performance drew 16.3 million (12th place overall), tops for the night and tops for the series.

Overall, the 2006 World Series goes down in Nielsen history as the least watched, lowest rated World Series on record. Its five games averaged 15.8 million, down from last year's 17.2 million and way down from 2004's Boston Red Sox-inspired 25.4 million. Perhaps even more embarrassing, its Game 3 (16th place, 15.6 million) got kicked around on Tuesday night by ABC's Dancing with the Stars (third place, 20.7 million).

Still, Fox rode the World Series to three nightly wins last week among the desired 18- to 49-year-old demographic and to two nightly wins among total viewers. If the World Series were an actual TV series, it would be Fox's most watched show after House, and it would be ahead of rival network fare such as Two and a Half Men, Without a Trace and Law & Order: SVU.

And it would, of course, continue to be the bane of Charlie Brown's already pretty dismal existence. Other ratings highlights for the TV week ended Sunday:

• ABC's Grey's Anatomy (24th place, 12.2 million) took the week off and aired a rerun. CBS' CSI (ninth place, 16.8 million) took the week off and aired a rerun. ABC's Desperate Housewives (first place, 21.2 million) kept its nose to the Formica and scored its first weekly win of the season.
• CBS' Survivor: Cook Islands (22nd place, 12.6 million) got beat with the ugly stick known as ABC's Ugly Betty (21st place, 13.1 million).
• Not that viewers were anxious for his elimination or anything, but Jerry Springer's Dancing with the Stars (fourth place, 20 million) swan song drove the Wednesday results show to a new series high.
• If NBC's Heroes (18th place, 14.4 million) really had superpowers, wouldn't it be able to compel people to stay tuned for Studio 60 (60th place, 7.7 million)?
• The storylines may be muddied, but the hardbodies of ABC's Lost (eighth place, 17.1 million) are apparently still something to behold. Only Desperate Housewives rated higher with 18- to 49-year-olds than the deserted-island drama.
• So, apparently people who like Las Vegas go there on a Friday night, rather than stay home to watch the fourth-season premiere of NBC's Las Vegas (44th place, 9.3 million), down some 25 percent from its third-season premiere as aired on a Monday night.
• Things could be worse for CBS' The Class (55th place, 7.9 million). It could be on NBC—and about to be bumped off for game shows and/or "various specials," à la Twenty Good Years (79th place, 5.4 million).
• NBC's Sunday Night Football (seventh place, 17.3 million) narrowly regained bragging rights over ESPN's Monday Night Football (16 million, tops for cable).

Overall, CBS was the most watched network, with its CSI shows and others combining to average 12.3 million; ABC was the highest rated network among 18- to 49-year-olds.

ABC ran second in total viewers (11.4 million), followed by Fox (10 million) and NBC (9.7 million).The CW, led by America's Next Top Model (77th place, 5.4 million), held steady with 3.6 million.

Here's a look at the 10 most watched prime-time shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:

1. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 21.2 million viewers
2. NFL National Post Game, CBS, 20.8 million viewers
3. Dancing with the Stars (Tuesday), ABC, 20.7 million viewers
4. Dancing with the Stars (Wednesday), ABC, 20 million viewers
5. CSI: Miami, CBS, 17.8 million viewers
6. CSI: NY, CBS, 17.4 million viewers
7. Sunday Night Football, NBC, 17.3 million viewers
8. Lost, ABC, 17.1 million viewers
9. CSI, CBS, 16.8 million viewers
10. Criminal Minds, CBS, 16.77 million viewers