Michael Jordan is still capable of a slam dunk, at least in the ratings.

One of the NBA's all-time greats sat for a rare interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” last night, helping the show to a 4.4 Nielsen overnight rating among viewers 18-49, its best showing of the season. It was up 42 percent over the show’s season-to-date overnights average.

“60 Minutes” was no doubt helped by runover for late NFL games, which didn’t end until about 7:30 p.m., and lots of promos for the interview during those games. But Jordan himself also demonstrated the ratings lifting effect he had during his NBA days.

“60 Minutes” grew throughout its hour. During the first half hour the show averaged a 4.1 rating among 18-49s, but then jumped 15 percent to a 4.7 during the last 30 minutes.

In its four previous episodes, “60 Minutes” had averaged a 3.1 overnight rating in the demo, achieving a 4.0 on two separate occasions. Like last night, both of those 4.0 ratings came on nights following late NFL action on CBS.

The Jordan bit received lots of pre-air press, with excerpts airing on ESPN and lots of print coverage of the interview. In it Jordan admitted to being stupid about his gambling habit but insisted that he was not a compulsive gambler and that his competitiveness never hurt his family.

Elsewhere last night, ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” equaled its lowest overnight rating of the season, a 10.9 among 18-49s, which will surely fuel the recent backlash over the show. Still, that the highest rating last night for any show, and by a large margin even against Fox’s World Series coverage. Up to last night “Housewives” had averaged an 11.5 rating.

“Housewives” helped ABC finish first for the night in the demo with a 6.8 average rating and a 16 share. Fox finished second at 4.8/12, CBS third at 3.7/9, NBC fourth at 2.6/6 and the WB fifth at 1.2/3. Final ratings will likely change for Fox, as fast nationals measure time period data and not actual live program data.

CBS started the night in the lead, averaging a 5.2 rating at 7 p.m. for NFL runover (6.2) and the first half of “60 Minutes” (4.1). Fox was second that hour with a 3.6 average for World Series pregame coverage and ABC third with a 2.7 for “America’s Funniest home Videos.”

ABC led at 8 p.m. with a 4.9 average for “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” Fox was a close second with a 4.8 for the first hour of Game Two of the World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros and CBS third with a 4.4 average for the last half of “60 Minutes” (4.7) and the first half of “Cold Case” (4.0).

At 9 p.m. ABC led with its 10.9 average for “Desperate Housewives.” Fox was second with a 5.3 for its coverage of the World Series and CBS third with a 3.1 average for the last half of “Cold Case” (3.8) and the first 30 minutes of the movie “Enough.”

ABC led again at 10 p.m., this time with an 8.5 average for “Grey’s Anatomy.” Fox was second with a 5.5 for the World Series and NBC third with a 3.5 for “Crossing Jordan.”

ABC also led the night among households with a 10.2 average rating and a 16 share. Fox finished second at 9.2/14, CBS third at 8.7/13, NBC fourth at 6.4/10 and the WB fifth at 1.9/3.