• by Wayne Friedman , May 7, 2008

TV ratings in the May sweeps continue to be inversely proportional to gas prices.

TV shows had little fuel as many suffered in the second Monday of the sweeps, with Fox's "House" as the new slowpoke among suffering big TV shows. "House" posted a season-low Nielsen preliminary 5.0 rating/12 share among 18-49 viewers--down 12% from last week's 5.7 low number.

As with other recent nights of sinking TV ratings, it wasn't just about one show. ABC's "The Bachelor: London Calling" had a season-low 2.4 at 10 p.m.; NBC's two-hour "Deal or No Deal" crashed to a season-low 2.3 at 8 p.m.

Fox and CBS finished in a dead heat for the night for first place with a 3.8/10. Fox was down 14% from a week before, and CBS losses weren't as bad, at just 3%.

CBS' best came from a 4.8/12 from "Two and a Half Men" at 9 p.m.--the second-highest-rated show of the night next to "House." ABC's best came from a 90-minute "Dancing with the Stars" at a 4.2/12, with the show down in ratings versus the week before.

The CW seemed to be losing steam from its highly touted marketing campaign for "Gossip Girl." The show dipped to a 1.0/3 from the week before. "One Tree Hill" also went weaker at the same 1.0/3 number.

Silver linings? NBC had an uptick from "Medium" at 10 p.m. to a 3.2/9. CBS' comedy lineup--"How I Met Your Mother," "The Big Bang Theory," "Two and a Half Men," "Rules of Engagement"--continued to be one of the stable and bright spots coming out of the writers' strike.