Schedules Plus, CW Sunday

Schedules Plus is another innovative application of the historical ratings statistic A18-49+. I hope this will be the ultimate resource for comparing the evolution of shows, networks and timeslots over time, complete with ratings numbers that make a fair adjustment for the collective decline. Right now this only includes programs aired in the fall. Much more about the process that went into this at the bottom.

The WB/CW Sunday post chronicles the death of a night of primetime programming. While UPN never actually programmed Sunday night, the WB did so pretty successfully with genre drama Charmed. So the powers that be tried to keep the night alive after the CW merger. Unfortunately, nothing the CW put there in its first year had anywhere near the power of Charmed. And things got exponentially more embarrassing in the next two seasons. First, they had megaflop family drama Life is Wild, then they sold the night to Media Rights Capital, whose two dramas were as weak as anything we've ever seen on a big-five network. Starting in 2009-10, the CW gave up on trying to nationally program the night and gave it back to the affiliates.

WB/CW Sunday

	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
2001-02	The Steve Harvey Show	Men, Women and Dogs	Nikki	Off Centre	26
	30	26	25	24
	28		24
2002-03	Charmed		Angel		49
	52		46
2003-04	Charmed		Tarzan		46
	54		37
2004-05	Charmed		Jack and Bobby		38
	44		31
2005-06	Charmed		Blue Collar TV		33
	42		25
2006-07	7th Heaven		Runaway		25
	32		19
2007-08	Life is Wild		America's Next Top Model Fall (R)		15
	11		19
2008-09	Valentine		Easy Money		10
	11		9
Avg	34		26		30

Notes:

The CW's inaugural 2006-07 lineup actually began with a four-comedy Sunday lineup imported from UPN (Everybody Hates Chris/All of Us/Girlfriends/new The Game), but after just two weeks they swapped it with the family dramas on Monday. I put the family dramas in the table since 7th Heaven stayed here all season, but Runaway only aired one Monday episode before getting the axe.

The comedy block briefly returned to Sunday after the writers' strike in March 2008 with truly terrible ratings (barely half of what they'd done on Monday earlier in the season). That was the network's last regular two-hour comedy block, with only Everybody Hates Chris and The Game surviving into 2008-09.

Media Rights Capital shows Valentine and Easy Money were each cancelled after four episodes (but returned for burn-offs in summer 2009). The CW ended its deal with MRC shortly thereafter, taking back the night and filling it with repeats and movies.

See here for more explanations/disclaimers about Schedules Plus.