May Sweeps 2010 Week Two Recap

Different day comparisons

Lost (T vs. W) +3%

The Mentalist (Th vs. T) -8%

Law & Order (M vs. W) -22%
Law & Order: SVU (W vs. T) -24%

Fringe (Th vs. T) -42%

Smallville (F vs. Th) -43%

Top 5 timeslot gainers
1. Dancing with the Stars vs. Scrubs/Better Off Ted (ABC, Tuesday 8pm) +92%
2. Minute to Win It vs. Law & Order: CI (R) (NBC, Wednesday 8pm) +69%
3. V vs. Cupid (ABC, Tuesday 10pm) +44%
4. The Mentalist vs. Criminal Minds (R) (CBS, Thursday 10pm) +43%
5. Kitchen Nightmares vs. Dollhouse (Fox, Friday 9pm) +36%

Only two comparisons involving repeats make the list this week. If you believe in shows getting renewal because of timeslot improvement, well, maybe that's something you can use to justify the recent pickup of V, which is doing better than most Lost lead-outs historically, and much better than DWTS lead-out Cupid last year. The other two originals built on shows that actually ended up getting renewed (Scrubs, Ted, Dollhouse), which might help provide further illustration of how dumb those renewals were in the first place. (If we needed any!)

Top 5 timeslot losers
1. Life Unexpected (R) vs. 90210 (CW, Tuesday 9pm) -67%
2. Jesse Stone: No Remorse vs. Cold Case/The Unit (CBS, Sunday 9-11pm) -52%
3. Lie to Me (R) vs. Lie to Me (Fox, Wednesday 8pm) -48%
4. Law & Order (R) vs. Medium (NBC, Monday 9pm) -45%
5. Miami Medical vs. Numb3rs (CBS, Friday 10pm) -41%

Three repeat comparisons make the list, as does a Jesse Stone movie, which did considerably worse than both of the modestly-rated programs airing on the night last year, and also more than 40% worse than the previous Jesse Stone movie. Not a good showing. Miami Medical's considerable drops from last year's Numb3rs (a show that is itself probably not returning) should help show how doomed that show is.

Top 5 show gainers
1. The Big Bang Theory (M9:30pm vs. M8pm) +56%
2. NCIS +15%
3. Survivor +14%
t-4. Family Guy +9%
t-4. Bones +9%

As predicted last week, The Big Bang Theory is the biggest gainer of this week, since it's really the only show airing both of the last two years that has a "better" timeslot now. It was generally a bad week for last week's big-gaining newsmagazines, so the numbers on this list are much smaller this week and mostly consist of small increases by shows that happened to have good weeks. NCIS making this list is particularly impressive since it was a regular gainer in 2009, meaning the show looks much better than it did two years ago - a rare feat.

Top 5 show losers
1. Smallville (F8pm vs. Th8pm) -43%
2. Fringe (Th9pm vs. T9pm) -42%
3. Ghost Whisperer -33%
4. America's Next Top Model (R) -33%
t-5. Dateline (Sun.) -25%
t-5. 60 Minutes -25%
t-5. Grey's Anatomy -25%

Two newsmagazines which made the top 5 show gainer list last week are tied for a top 5 show loser spot this week. So it goes for newsmagazines. Smallville and Fringe remain fixtures because of worse timeslots, while Ghost Whisperer looks like it may remain a fixture just because it's had a terrible season.