But this season Fox's prime time is off to one of its best starts. It is poised to win the second week of the TV season among adults 18-49, and not only are some of its established shows showing strong staying power, but new shows 'Glee' and 'The Cleveland Show' are keepers. This season, Fox is up 7 percent in viewers, averaging 7.5 million viewers and 11 percent in adults 18-49 with a 3.1 rating (each rating point in that demographic equals 1.3 million people). Monday, Wednesday and Thursday in particular have made big gains with younger viewers from a year ago, and Fox also is expecting Sunday night to be up in both categories compared with last season. 'I am a little surprised; fourth quarter is not their strength,' says Brad Adgate, senior vice president of research for Horizon Media, a media buying agency whose clients include Geico. Adgate said one of the more impressive performances has been that of 'House,' which has been averaging 16.3 million viewers and a 6.4 in adults 18-49. Not every night is firing on all cylinders for News Corp.'s Fox. Friday is a disaster as the new sitcom 'Brothers' and the returning drama 'Dollhouse' are struggling. The audience for the night this season is just 2.4 million, a drop of about 54 percent compared with the same period last season. Of course, now baseball is coming around again, which means many shows will be pre-empted. The fear is always that whatever momentum is there could be slowed. But this autumn the risk may be less as the network figures to have compelling games with the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Dodgers and Cardinals all in the postseason baseball hunt. At a hush-hush gathering of Fox affiliates over the weekend in Jackson Hole, Wyo., new Fox Entertainment Chairman Peter Rice was positive on the value of baseball to the network's autumn lineup, according to people at the meeting. That is a different attitude from that of some predecessors, who often have griped about how baseball disrupts the network's programming flow and attracts an older audience that doesn't stick around for Fox's shows. There is some truth to that, but that won't stop Fox from making sure we get plenty of close-ups of the cast of 'Glee' during the World Series. Talk about synergy. 