November Sweeps 2009 Week Two, Recap

Different day comparisons
Ugly Betty (F vs. Th) -56%

The Mentalist (Th vs. T) -10%

House (M vs. T) -4%
Bones (Th vs. W) -26%
Fringe (Th vs. T) -55%

Law & Order: SVU (W vs. T) -22%
Law & Order (F8pm vs. W) -23%

Smallville (F vs. Th) -37%

TOP 5 TIMESLOT GAINERS
1. House vs. Terminator: SCC (FOX, Monday 8pm) +165%
2. V vs. DWTS recap (ABC, Tuesday 8pm) +81%
3. Law & Order vs. Crusoe (NBC, Friday 9pm) +80%
4. Smallville vs. Everybody Hates Chris/The Game (CW, Friday 8pm) +71%
5. The Big Bang Theory vs. Worst Week (CBS, Monday 9:30pm) +68%

Here's a neat quirk: all five networks are represented in this top 5! Smallville and Law & Order return to the list this week as Friday saviors (with the 8pm edition of Law & Order narrowly missing the top 5). The Big Bang Theory is also back, throttling the performance of year-ago comedy flop Worst Week. Speaking of throttling a year-ago flop, House has singlehandedly made this network relevant on Monday night, even though the timeslot is tough. And though there wasn't a lot of good news for week 2 of V, which took the largest week 2 tumble by a drama this season, it can at least say it did a whole lot better than a DWTS recap. Suffice to say, that's a necessity.

TOP 5 TIMESLOT LOSERS
1. So You Think You Can Dance vs. House/Fringe (Fox, Tuesday 8-10pm) -51%
2. The Jay Leno Show vs. ER (NBC, Thursday 10pm) -50%
3. Trauma vs. Heroes (NBC, Monday 9pm) -50%
4. The Jay Leno Show vs. Law & Order: SVU (NBC, Tuesday 10pm) -47%
5. Three Rivers vs. Cold Case (CBS, Sunday 9pm) -42%

The heights of this list aren't quite as bad as last week, but there are still a couple doses of Leno. (And Jay's down 30%+ on two other nights not seen above. The only night where he's competitive year-to-year is on Friday relative to Lipstick Jungle.) CBS Sunday has become a complete disaster courtesy of Three Rivers. Trauma and SYTYCD, while not strong performers in their own rights, do have the misfortune of replacing strong shows from last year that got moved elsewhere.

TOP 5 SHOW GAINERS
1. CSI: NY +27%
2. 20/20 +27%
3. The Big Bang Theory (9:30pm vs. 8pm) +21%
4. Gary Unmarried +14%
5. NCIS +10%

It was a somewhat healthy week for a lot of shows. 4 of these 5 are on CBS. CSI:NY, which has not been trending well for most of this season, flipped the script this week and can thank the "CSI trilogy" stunt. 20/20 owes its spike to an extremely highly publicized interview with Rihanna. BBT's move to 9:30 has been very beneficial for the show and the network, Gary had a nice uptick this week from recent results with ABC comedy out of the hour, and NCIS just plain has positive momentum for about the last year now.

TOP 5 SHOW LOSERS
1. Ugly Betty (F9pm vs. Th8pm) -56%
2. Fringe (Th9pm vs. T9pm) -55%
3. Cold Case (Su10pm vs. Su9pm) -45%
4. Smallville (F8pm vs. Th8pm) -37%
5. Heroes (M8pm vs. M9pm) -36%

Three shows return to this list after being on it last week, Friday movers Ugly Betty and Smallville and doomed-to-Sunday-at-10 Cold Case, while Fringe and Heroes join the fun after not having applicable comparisons last week. Fringe had a big House lead-in and not a lot of compatible competition last year, and certainly enjoys neither of those perks in its brutal Thursday timeslot. Heroes' move to 8 certainly did not inherently help the show, and it's done plenty of its own declining to boot.

Same show, same timeslot is a much longer list this week, so I'll hold off on that. We'll revisit that toward the end of sweeps.