I'm gonna go really broad here and say there are two types of serialized dramas, "action" and "relationship." Plenty of these shows have cases-of-the-week, but also more serial elements than your average crime effort, so bear with me. Both types of serials are capable of going way off that median 58 female/42 male breakdown.
| Smallville | 58% | male |
| Terminator:SCC | 54% | male |
| 24 | 54% | male |
| Heroes | 51% | male |
| Chuck | 51% | male |
| Kings | 50% | male |
| Lost | 48% | male |
| Supernatural | 48% | male |
| Dollhouse | 47% | male |
| The Unit | 46% | male |
| Reaper | 46% | male |
| Fringe | 46% | male |
| Life on Mars | 44% | male |
| Prison Break | 44% | male |
| House | 44% | male |
| MEDIAN | ||
| FNL | 42% | male |
| Medium | 37% | male |
| Harper's | 34% | male |
| DH | 33% | male |
| ER | 33% | male |
| Ghost Whisperer | 32% | male |
| Cupid | 32% | male |
| B&S | 28% | male |
| Ugly Betty | 28% | male |
| 90210 | 27% | male |
| One Tree Hill | 25% | male |
| Grey's | 23% | male |
| Gossip Girl | 23% | male |
| PP | 23% | male |
The median show is 42% and I think that's also a good dividing point between "action" and "relationship." I think an interesting point here is that the line between these two types of serials gets blurrier as you get closer to the median. Life on Mars and Reaper had lots of relationship-type stuff (perhaps as ordered by their female-loving nets). Though a relationship drama at heart, the football element probably brings FNL's male number up. Certainly stuff like DH and Harper's Island have heavy mystery/horror elements to them, but anyone who watches them knows there's also plenty of soap.
So when CW head Dawn Ostroff says she wants her W18-34s and she orders stuff like Gossip Girl and 90210, and for all the flak she gets for the bad total viewer numbers on those shows, the point needs to be made - she's getting the audience she wants, and pretty much only that audience. Meanwhile, stuff like Smallville/Reaper is either deprioritized or axed for skewing a long way from her target.
The major point to be made here is this: the median is 42% male. There are very few shows on this list that are right around that number - only four within 3%, and a couple of those in House and Life on Mars are very much borderline procedural. Serials are good at targeting. 5 of the top 10 male-skewers were "action" serials. Six of the top 7 female-skewers were "relationship" serials. Tomorrow, we'll look at procedurals and you'll see a very different story.
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