ABC wins slow Thursday as ratings slump continues (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The Thursday nightratings slowdown continues.

The performance drops that alarmed the industry the firstnight of the May sweeps were again evident this week, with manykey shows flat or falling a little further. Notably, the marketpenetration of digital video recorders clicked another point tohit 24 percent this week (compared to 15 percent last year).

Overall, ABC won the night among adults 18 to 49 (averaging11.4 million viewers, 4.4 adults 18-to-49 rating and a 12share) while CBS took the total viewers crown (14.4 million,4.1/11).

In its second week back to original episodes, ABC's "UglyBetty" (7.9 million, 2.4/7) was on par with last week's serieslow while "Grey's Anatomy" (15.1 million, 6.0/15) dropped 8percent to create a new series low. At 10 p.m., "Lost" (11.1million, 4.8/13) was down 9 percent from its time periodpremiere last week. In the demo, "Grey's" and "Lost" won theirrespective hours.

Coming in second, CBS' "Survivor" (12.5 million, 4.0/12)won 8 p.m., followed by "CSI" (17.8 million, 5.0/13) and a flat"Without a Trace" (12.9 million, 3.3/9).

In third, NBC's 8 p.m. comedies rebounded a bit this week,with "My Name Is Earl" (6.8 million, 2.8/9) up 17 percent and"Scrubs" up 16 percent (5.9 million, 2.9/8) to finish second intheir time periods. At 9 p.m., "The Office" (7.7 million,3.9/10) was a season low, followed by "30 Rock" (5.4 million,2.6/7). At 10 p.m., "ER" (7.7 million, 3.0/8) matched lastweek's series low.

Fourth-place Fox aired "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader"(8.3 million, 2.2/7) and "Don"t Forget the Lyrics" (7.3million, 2.5/6).

The CW had the 150th episode of "Smallville" (3.6 million,1.5/5) and "Supernatural" (2.5 million, 1.0/3).

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter