Veronica Mars and UPN/WB Ratings

So I had just sort assumed that the best drama remaining on broadcast television would be retained as the crappy network it’s on is merged with the other one. But then I saw a WSJ article this weekend suggesting that fans were desperate to save it, which was suprising. So I did some googling, during which I discovered one thing: trying to find ratings of non top-20 shows for free is virtually impossible. I did, however, find this, which is less than encouraging:

Although fans of UPN’s Veronica Mars were hoping for a miracle, what could be the series-finale closed with just 2.42 million viewers and a 1.1/ 3 among adults 18-49 at 9 p.m. Comparably, though, that was better than the WB’s competing, and waiting-to-be-axed Pepper Dennis (Viewers: #6, 2.18 million; A18-49: #6, 0.9/ 2 million).

Pepper Dennis?

Anyway, what I still don’t know is how this ratings, while certainly bad for a network show, compare to other WB/UPN shows. If they don’t have a lot of ratings hits, wouldn’t it make sense to keep the one that at least has a devoted following?

On the other hand, if it gets axed, if I just wait for The Office to come out on DVD, and resist my increasingly dimming temptation to check in on Law & Order and The Simpsons, I can reduce the number of network shows I currently watch to zero, which I guess could be construed as a good thing…

…OK, scrolling down my own damned link further, I see it’s ranked #112. That ain’t good.

…in comments, Pinko notes that the show is up against Lost, which strikes me as pretty relevant to assessing its ratings potential. I’ve never seen the latter, so I can’t compare, and I actually know many fanboys/girls who prefer Veronica Mars, but at any rate the two shows seem to be going after roughly the same fan base. It seems to me that a rational network might want to keep the show and try to program it more intelligently.

…This is more encouraging.