Schedules Plus, CW Thursday

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.

In the last year of the WB's existence, it moved Smallville to Thursday, and since then the 8/7c hour has seen by far the least upheaval of any netlet timeslot. Only once has the CW made a move: when they replaced Smallville with a very worthy heir in The Vampire Diaries in 2009. The 9/8c hour has not been quite so steady; after four plus seasons of Supernatural, the network had a new occupant each year for four seasons. Reign broke the streak by staying put in 2014-15, but it's gone for fall 2015.

WB Thursday

	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
2001-02	Popstars	Elimidate Deluxe	Charmed		36
	22	20	50
	21
2002-03	Family Affair	Do Over	Jamie Kennedy	Off Centre	23
	23	19	29	19
	21		24
2003-04	Steve Harvey's	Jamie Kennedy	What I Like About You	Run of the House	24
	29	27	20	20
	28		20
2004-05	Blue Collar TV	Drew Carey's Green Screen	(repeats)		25
	34	28	19
	31
2005-06	Smallville		Everwood		47
	57		36

UPN Thursday

	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
2001-02	Friday Night Smackdown!				59
	59		59
2002-03	Friday Night Smackdown!				48
	48		48
2003-04	Friday Night Smackdown!				48
	48		48
2004-05	Friday Night Smackdown!				45
	45		45
2005-06	Everybody Hates Chris	Love, Inc.	Eve	Cuts	30
	44	28	25	23
	36		24

CW Thursday

	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
2006-07	Smallville		Supernatural		44
	51		37
2007-08	Smallville		Supernatural		44
	52		36
2008-09	Smallville		Supernatural		49
	54		44
2009-10	The Vampire Diaries		Supernatural		52
	60		43
2010-11	The Vampire Diaries		Nikita		46
	57		36
2011-12	The Vampire Diaries		The Secret Circle		44
	55		33
2012-13	The Vampire Diaries		Beauty and the Beast		44
	59		29
2013-14	The Vampire Diaries		Reign		42
	54		31
2014-15	The Vampire Diaries		Reign		33
	43		23
Avg	54		35		44

2014-15 Update: The only thing keeping the CW from good news on every weeknight was a pretty disastrous season on what has usually been one of its brightest nights. Aging The Vampire Diaries (which had to face Grey's Anatomy for the first time) fell to a series low Plus by a wide margin. Its sophomore lead-out Reign was down even more, making it the clear weakest link on the net's weeknight sked. The CW will try to hold this night together with the old regime for one more year by moving TVD spin-off The Originals into the 9/8c hour.

Notable midseason replacements:

After beginning its run on Tuesday, Supernatural swapped over to Thursday for the tail end of season one in 2005-06, where it averaged a 38.

See here for more explanations/disclaimers about Schedules Plus.