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By John J. Joex

Several shows had an upswing in the ratings this past week while several others experienced a downturn. Receiving some good news, of sorts, for the first time in a long time was ABC’s FlashForward. It managed to turn around its long trend of declining numbers and pulled a 1.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic. The bad news that comes with the good is that the show is still a long way away from any sort of numbers that would give it even a glimmer of hope for a second season. This just means that ABC may keep it on the schedule until it finishes its inaugural run which has definitely been in doubt of late (though give the network credit for some heavy promotion of the show). Also seeing an upswing in the ratings this past week, as it chomps at FlashForward’s heels, was Vampire Diaries at a 1.6 rating (good numbers for the CW) as it comes close to returning to its season to date average. Fringe and Supernatural also improved by a tick Ghost Whisperer and and Medium rebounded a bit from the season (and series) lows they suffered last week.

Going in the wrong direction last week was ABC’s V. It dropped to a 2.5 rating in the 18-49 demo, down from the 2.9 it posted upon its return from its hiatus the prior week. That’s some pretty bad news for that show which was just barely clinging to life with the numbers it had sustained up to that point. In fact, the show could not even win its timeslot and the chances of it getting the greenlight for a second season seem pretty slim barring a quick turnaround ratings. Also down a bit this week, though not as much as V, were Lost, Human Target, and Smallville.

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:

Title Net TS Rank TS (EST) Re- peat Rating (18-49 Demo) STD Avg Viewers (Millions) Cancel Alert
Chuck NBC 3rd Mon 8 PM No 2.1 2.3 5.77 Moderate
Lost ABC 2nd Tue 9 PM No 3.8 4.3 9.45 N/A
V ABC 2nd Tue 10 PM No 2.5 3.4 6.02 Medium
Human Target FOX 1st Wed 8 PM No 2.2 2.5 7.67 Moderate
FlashForward ABC 3rd Thu 8 PM No 1.7 2.6 5.45 High
Vampire Diaries CW 4th Thu 8 PM No 1.6 1.7 3.50 Renewed
Fringe FOX 2nd Thu 9 PM No 2.3 2.4 6.46 Renewed
Supernatural CW 5th Thu 9 PM No 1.2 1.2 2.77 Renewed
Ghost Whisperer CBS 1st Fri 8 PM No 1.5 1.9 6.58 Moderate
Smallville CW 5th Fri 8 PM No 0.8 1.1 2.13 Renewed
Medium CBS 1st Fri 9 PM No 1.7 1.9 7.46 Moderate

Source: TV by the Numbers

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