• by Joe Mandese , November 5, 2007

Six weeks into the new prime-time season, one of Madison Avenue's most highly regarded programming analysts has released a "prognosis" indicating that two of the networks' most touted new series - ABC's "Pushing Daisies" and NBC's "Bionic Woman" - are falling precipitously in Nielsen's ratings. The report from Magna Global's Steve Sternberg finds that only two new shows - ABC's "Samantha Who" and CBS' "Moonlight" - "have not significantly declined" among key ratings demographics since their debuts.

"Both are winning their respective hours," Sternberg writes in the report circulated to clients and members of the press over the weekend, "but we'll need to see what happens to 'Samantha' when she no longer has 'Dancing With the Stars' as a lead-in."

Other than that, Sternberg gives a less than healthy prognosis for this season's rookie prime-time series. Even shows like ABC's "Cavemen" and "Big Shots" that initially surprised both critics and program analysts to perform better than originally predicted have begun to falter.

"As we've been saying - and demonstrating - for a few years now, pre-season buzz has little correlation to which shows ultimately succeed," Sternberg reminded. "Two series that were among the most talked about before the season began, ABC's Pushing Daisies and NBC's Bionic Woman, did have strong viewer sampling in their debuts. But as we predicted, each has since lost a sizable portion of their initial adult 18-49 and 25-54 audience (40% or more). Bionic Woman is doing slightly better, but neither can be called successes at this point, and neither has yet stopped declining."