Axiom's Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

By John J. Joex

After starting off the season with several weeks of sinking ratings, Heroes may have finally turned the corner. The series, now in its fourth season, has seen a slight improvement in its numbers the past two weeks in a row and edged its way up this last week to a 2.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 5.7 million viewers. Those numbers are still down considerably from where the show was at this time last season, and even down from where it ended the season, but I’m sure they will take any sign of progress at this point.

Dollhouse, on the other hand, took a slide after it saw an improvement a couple of weeks ago. As I predicted, the pre-emption for last Friday’s baseball game derailed what little momentum the show had gained as it dropped to a 0.8 rating and just 2.15 million viewers. This along with the news that the series will get pulled from the schedule until December (so as not to pull down the network’s ratings during the November sweeps) casts the future of Dollhouse in series doubt. It still does well in DVR viewing, but that may not be enough to save it and I have moved it to a Cancellation Alert of Medium.

Also on Friday nights, Ghost Whisperer is following the same trend as it saw last season as it has continued to gain viewers through the Fall months. It’s still down based on a year over year basis but since it continues to own its timeslot it should be safe. And Medium has taken advantage of its lead-in from Ghost Whisperer as it even topped that show this week with a 2.2 rating in the 18-49 demo. Both shows should be safe for a full season pickup.

Here is the full breakdown of the numbers for all of the Science Fiction and Fantasy shows that aired on the broadcast networks this past week:

Source: TV by the Numbers

Previous Results: The Ratings Slide has Stopped for Now

For more on the Cancellation Alert for each show, see our Cancellation Watch column.