'Betty,' 'Dollhouse' slip; 'Smallville' retains gain

The second week of ABC's "Ugly Betty" slipped 14% from its two-hour premiere to come in third place at 9 p.m., while Fox's "Dollhouse" hit an all-time low and The CW's "Smallville" retained last week's season high.

CBS won the night with "Ghost Whisperer" (8.5 million viewers, 2.1 preliminary adults 18-49 rating) and "Medium" (8.4 million, 2.2) posting slight gains from last week, when they faced Fox's baseball coverage. "Numbers" (8.1 million, 1.8) was steady. All three won their hours.

NBC placed second with an on par "Law & Order" (7.2 million, 1.5) and "Dateline" (7.9 million, 1.8), while 10 p.m.'s "Jay Leno Show" (6.1 million, 1.4) was up 17% from last week's series low and featured Michelle Obama as guest (also, again, no baseball). 

Third-place ABC aired the season premiere of "Supernanny" (4.7 million, 1.1), dropping 27% from its 9 p.m. debut last year and 15% from the debut of "Wife Swap" in its slot. "Ugly Betty" (4.5 million, 1.2) was down 14%, followed by "20/20" (6.5 million, 1.6).

Fox's "Brothers" (2.4 million, 0.8) and "Til Death" (2 million, 0.7) continued to underperform. In its final episode before its November sweeps hiatus, "Dollhouse" (2.1 million, 0.8) was down 20% in the demo from its last episode two weeks ago.

I'm hesitant to make any declarations about the fate "Dollhouse." Though I broke the news last season that Fox was renewing the show, that decision surprised me as much as anybody. So keeping in mind that in this new wacky ratings universe broadcast shows drawing under a 2.0 are getting renewed, it is really tough to see Fox rolling the dice on "Dollhouse" a second time.

Good news for "Smallville" (2.5 million, 1.1) fans, though.

The show matched last week's season high (which also held up in the nationals, btw). That means The CW tied ABC for third place at 8 p.m. (18-49 is not their sales demo, but they still keep an eye on it). Regardless of the network's mixed feelings about "Smallville," any show that gets the network out of fifth place among the industry's standard measurement is tough to ignore. So after climbing significantly to reach season highs for two weeks in a row, does that mean it's time to update The Live Feed's TV Series Survival Status Report? I think so.