• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, October 27, 2008

The World Series is here, and soon the Presidential election -- TV events with questionable viewership ratings in the recent past, but plenty of viewer loyalty for those who stick around.

The World Series is down double-digit percentages from a year ago for 18-49 viewers. Horrible? Not exactly. Some of this was expected, considering the -- until recently -- low-branded professional baseball team from Tampa Bay that is participating.

Presidential election TV coverage is building up to be a wall-to-wall TV event across all networks -- Jumbotrons, new on-air technical wizardry, and all cable news networks' hands on deck. All this is fueled by anticipation of a new president (possibly a first-ever African-American one) or a first female vice president, higher news programming viewership, and soaring ratings from political spoofs from a revived "Saturday Night Live" on NBC.

And lately older TV shows have been showing they still have a pulse. Even the venerable TV franchise, Nickelodeon's "Sponge Bob Square Pants," found a way to pull in seven million total viewers with a special episode.

Speaking of older TV franchise brands -- CBS' "CSI" found a way to get back on top of ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" in last Thursday's rating results. Let's not forget even NBC's 15-year-old "ER" has been winning its 10 p.m. time of late, which so surprises some that NBC wants to add a few more original episodes this season, its last.

Perhaps it isn't just TV marketers but TV viewers who gravitate toward the tried and true in troubled times. Who can take a chance on investing money -- or time -- on any new crumb of entertainment in this fast-eroding economic and financial marketplace?

This is not to say that "Life on Mars" or "Gary Unmarried" or "Knight Rider" won't eventually find a footing. But right now no one wants to bet on what could be unrequited TV love -- where network executives will pull the rug out from underneath hooked-in viewers.

The World Series, the elections, "CSI" and "ER" always seem to be there. Right now, that feels good .