May Sweeps 2009 Week Two Analysis by genre

Previous genre lists: Week 1

BY GENRE
SCRIPTED HALF-HOUR
BBT +21%
30 Rock +12%
Rules +5%
Simpsons +3%
2.5 Men +2%
HIMYM even
Office -8%
American Dad -10%
Family Guy -10%
King of the Hill -11%
Earl -25%

SCRIPTED HOUR
(Cold Case 9pm vs. year-ago Cold Case 8pm) +21%
Gossip Girl +20%
Supernatural +18%
NCIS +17%
One Tree Hill +9%
Criminal Minds +6%
Ghost Whisperer +4%
Law & Order: SVU +3%
CSI: NY even
CSI: Miami even
Numb3rs -4%
(House 8pm vs. year-ago House 9pm) -10%
Smallville -13%
(Thursday Bones vs. year-ago Monday Bones) -15%
(Wednesday Lost vs. year-ago Thursday Lost) -15%
Grey's Anatomy -16%
Ugly Betty -17%
(8pm Reaper vs. year-ago 9pm Reaper) -20%
Brothers & Sisters -21%
(Tuesday Without a Trace vs. year-ago Thursday WAT) -21%
Law & Order -21%
Medium (10-11 pm) -22%
CSI -27%
Desperate Housewives -30%

UNSCRIPTED
20/20 (10pm) +50%
60 Minutes +25%
DWTS (8-9:30 pm, Mon.) +9%
American Idol (Wed.) +1%
American Idol (Tues.) -1%
America's Funniest Home Videos -4%
Survivor -10%
ANTM -15%
(Friday Supernanny vs. year-ago Wednesday Supernanny) -21%
Dateline (2 hrs., Fri.) -21%
DWTS results -27%
Dateline (7-8pm, Sun.) -33%
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition -36%
(Friday Wife Swap vs. year-ago Wednesday Wife Swap) -44%
(Thursday Hell's Kitchen vs. year-ago Tuesday Hell's Kitchen) -46%

ANALYSIS: Once again, it's good to be a comedy. Fox's entire animation lineup improved week-to-week vs. the year-ago evening due to the removal of Sit Down, Shut Up, as first projected here. ;-) The only real tank job was the Earl/Parks hour on NBC, and that was due more to that hour making a big spike on that evening last year. (Although as we'll see in the next set of Thursday numbers, Earl tanked all on its own this week.) A lot of dramas had better showings this week, while most reality shows stayed around the same. Something I observed this weekend in conjunction with the huge decline of Dateline is that both of those hours air against another newsmagazine, and both of those newsmagazines are improved year-to-year. Seems that people are switching away from the NBC program.

May Sweeps 2009 Week Two Analysis by network

Previous network lists: Week 1

BY NETWORK
ABC
20/20 (10pm) +50%
DWTS (8-9:30 pm, Mon.) +9%
America's Funniest Home Videos -4%
(Wednesday Lost vs. year-ago Thursday Lost) -15%
Grey's Anatomy -16%
Ugly Betty -17%
Brothers & Sisters -21%
(Friday Supernanny vs. year-ago Wednesday Supernanny) -21%
DWTS results -27%
Desperate Housewives -30%
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition -36%
(Friday Wife Swap vs. year-ago Wednesday Wife Swap) -44%

CBS
60 Minutes +25%
(Cold Case 9pm vs. year-ago Cold Case 8pm) +21%
BBT +21%
NCIS +17%
Criminal Minds +6%
Rules +5%
Ghost Whisperer +4%
2.5 Men +2%
CSI: NY even
HIMYM even
CSI: Miami even
Numb3rs -4%
Survivor -10%
(Tuesday Without a Trace vs. year-ago Thursday WAT) -21%
CSI -27%

FOX
Simpsons +3%
American Idol (Wed.) +1%
American Idol (Tues.) -1%
American Dad -10%
Family Guy -10%
(House 8pm vs. year-ago House 9pm) -10%
King of the Hill -11%
(Thursday Bones vs. year-ago Monday Bones) -15%
(Thursday Hell's Kitchen vs. year-ago Tuesday Hell's Kitchen) -46%

NBC
30 Rock +12%
Law & Order: SVU +3%
Office -8%
Law & Order -21%
Dateline (2 hrs., Fri.) -21%
Medium (10-11 pm) -22%
Earl -25%
Dateline (7-8pm, Sun.) -33%

CW
Gossip Girl +20%
Supernatural +18%
One Tree Hill +9%
Smallville -13%
ANTM -15%
(8pm Reaper vs. year-ago 9pm Reaper) -20%

ANALYSIS: Generally speaking, this was a pretty healthy week for broadcast on a year-to-year basis. Even the oft-bleeding CW Monday had a good week. Network-wise, the big exception is ABC, which is still littered with double-digit declines and can probably only cite DWTS as a success among its heavy hitters... and even then, only the Monday airing. NBC is still seeing big drops out of its utility players, but its biggest-name shows (SVU, Office, Rock) are all doing OK. FOX's comparisons almost all improved from last week, while CBS was extremely strong this week, the only exceptions really being the three shows that aired on Thursday last year. It's a strange time for CBS when their biggest real problem among returning shows is CSI.

Other May Sweeps 2009 Week 2 Comparisons (FINALS vs. FINALS)

(Wednesday Lost vs. year-ago Thursday Lost) -15% (-17%)
(Friday Wife Swap vs. year-ago Wednesday Wife Swap) -44%
(Friday Supernanny vs. year-ago Wednesday Supernanny) -21%
(Tuesday Without a Trace vs. year-ago Thursday WAT) -21% (-24%)
(Thursday Bones vs. year-ago Monday Bones) -15% (-31%)
(Thursday Hell's Kitchen vs. year-ago Tuesday Hell's Kitchen) -46% (-41%)

Since I got split between fast nat vs. fast nat and final vs. final comparisons this week and I didn't want them to overlap, I went ahead and made these all FINAL vs. FINAL, since in theory I'll get around to making it all final vs. final at some juncture.

Wednesday 5/6/09 (FINALS vs. FINALS)

Criminal Minds +6%
CSI: NY +0%
American Idol +1%
Law & Order -21%
ANTM -15%

Scrubs vs. year-ago Wife Swap -16%
Lost vs. year-ago Supernanny +111%
Unusuals vs. year-ago Barbara Walters' Journey -20%
Christine/Gary vs. year-ago Price is Right +11%
Lie to Me vs. year-ago 'Til Death/Back to You +35%

Tuesday 5/5/09 (FINALS vs. FINALS)

DWTS results -27% (-20%)
NCIS +17% (+13%)
American Idol -1% (-9%)
Law & Order: SVU +3% (-5%)

Scrubs/Ted vs. year-ago DWTS recap -44%
Cupid vs. year-ago WMC -20% (-11%)
Mentalist vs. year-ago Shark +71% (+68%)
Fringe vs. year-ago Hell's Kitchen -27% (-24%)
Reaper vs. year-ago Beauty and the Geek +14% (-13%)
90210 vs. year-ago Reaper -10% (-18%)
(8pm Reaper vs. year-ago 9pm Reaper) -20% (-36%)

Monday 5/4/09 (FINALS vs. FINALS)

DWTS (8-9:30 pm) +9% (-2%)
BBT +21% (-13%)
HIMYM even (-3%)
2.5 Men +2% (+4%)
Rules +5% (even)
CSI: Miami even (-15%)
Medium (10-11 pm) -22% (-29%)
Gossip Girl +30% (-23%)
One Tree Hill +9% (-8%)

DWTS 9:30-10pm vs. year-ago Samantha Who? +79%
(DWTS 8-10pm vs. year-ago DWTS 8-9:30 pm) +12%
Castle vs. year-ago The Bachelor +22%
House vs. year-ago Bones +70% (+41%)
24 vs. year-ago House -35% (-40%)
(House 8pm vs. year-ago House 9pm) -10% (-21%)
Deal or No Deal/Medium 8-10pm vs. year-ago Deal or No Deal 8-10 pm -30%
(Deal or No Deal 8-9 pm vs. year-ago Deal or No Deal 8-10pm) -48%

Sunday 5/3/09 (FINALS vs. FINALS)

America's Funniest Home Videos -4%
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition -36% (-28%)
Desperate Housewives -30% (-19%)
Brothers & Sisters -21% (-23%)
60 Minutes +25% (+14%)
Simpsons +3% (-19%)
King of the Hill -11%
Family Guy -10% (-21%)
American Dad -10% (-17%)
Dateline (7-8pm) -33% (-33%)

The Amazing Race vs. year-ago Cold Case +33%
(Cold Case 9pm vs. year-ago Cold Case 8pm) +21%

Friday 5/1/09

20/20 (10pm) +50% (+38%)
Ghost Whisperer even (-9%)
Numb3rs -8% (-18%)
Dateline (2 hrs.) -26% (-32%)

Wife Swap vs. year-ago 20/20 (8pm) -13%
Supernanny vs. year-ago Duel +60%
Flashpoint vs. year-ago Moonlight even (-24%)

Oops

I found a different-day comparison from last week that I left out.

(Thursday Hell's Kitchen vs. year-ago Tuesday Hell's Kitchen) -45%

Pretty useless since the timeslots are very different and the lead-ins are hugely different, but I've edited it into the analysis posts below.

Thursday 4/30/09

Previous identical comparisons are included in parentheses.

Ugly Betty -17%
Grey's Anatomy -17% (-22%)
Survivor -10% (-17%)
CSI -28% (-22%)
Earl -21% (-4%)
Office -5% (-5%)
30 Rock +12% (+11%)
Smallville -7% (-7%)
Supernatural +30% (+10%)

Private Practice vs. year-ago Lost -27% (-29%)
Parks & Recreation vs. year-ago Scrubs -21% (-4%)
Southland vs. year-ago ER -30% (-14%)
Bones vs. year-ago 5th Grader even (+5%)
Hell's Kitchen vs. year-ago Don't Forget the Lyrics +12%