These are the household ratings for the penultimate episode of “Mars” and the last episode of “Gilmore Girls.”

Gilmore Girls – 3.1/5 – 4.9 million viewers
Veronica Mars – 1.3/2 – 2.1 million viewers

That is pathetic. Any show with no love from the network airing it would be cancelled in a matter of weeks for dropping like that.

Even more pathetic when you factor in how many viewers it lost over the course of the season. Here’s the ratings for the 3rd season premiere (and the episode of “Gilmore Girls” that preceded it.)

Gilmore Girls – 3.2/5 – 4.6 million viewers
Veronica Mars – 2.1/3 – 3.4 million viewers

If a third of the people watching the show at the beginning of the season are tired of it by the end of the season, why shouldn’t The CW be?

Forgive me, but I’m prone to laughing in the face of anyone who says “Veronica Mars” was mistreated. It got 3 seasons. It aired all its episodes. It ran during all 3 major sweeps periods all 3 years it aired. UPN pushed it hard, to the point of practically begging people to watch. If people watched it, it would still be on. Because Ostroff pretty much fell on her sword to keep it through the merger. You like “Reaper?” Great, then you understand why the flop had to die. So a new life could begin. So it was critically-acclaimed? So what? “Pushing Daisies” (which, unlike “Mars,” didn’t get a cumulative total of zero Emmy nominations) is the most critically-acclaimed show on ABC. You say that should be cancelled. Well, maybe it should. The difference is, the fan boards of that show are still filled with people who seem to enjoy it. By “Veronica’s” third season, everywhere I looked, I saw posts that were bemoaning how awful it had gotten.

By heir apparent, I mean Dawn’s pet project with a female lead in which she probably sees herself. Which is “Gossip Girl.” It’s not an exact heir apparent. Because it can anchor a night.

The CW treated the show poorly, but despite that it did better than PRIVILEGED has done. By poorly I am referring to cutting the season order short, putting the show on hiatus, and by having it the least promoted scripted drama on the network. Despite the fact that is was critically the most acclaimed show on the network.

I’m not sure where you get the idea the show was a giant nothing. For CW shows, it’s 2nd in DVD sales behind only SMALLVILLE and only slightly better than SUPERNATURAL.

For the least promoted drama on the network, the 2.5M average viewers it pulled was extremely strong. DVD sales are strong enough that DtV movies are being considered. This is easily one of those shows that could have done better if promoted better.

“Gilmore Girls” was done in by the creators and then the stars refusing to sign on dotted lines. I’m pretty sure Dawn didn’t set out to cancel it. I’m definitely sure it had run its course.

“Stylista” wraps December 17. “Reaper” won’t be homeless forever. While I agree The CW haven’t exactly rolled out the red carpet for it, I don’t think they’ve treated it poorly. Especially considering it’s an ABC show. They picked up additional episodes after the strike, they brought it back after the strike, and they renewed it for a second season. I’d rather see it held back for midseason than given a hopeless time slot, like Fridays at 9:00. Now “Girlfriends” — THAT was a show they treated poorly. 8 seasons and they can’t even let them shoot 1 stinking episode post-strike to wrap up the whole thing? And it was a chick show at that.

“Veronica Mars” was a giant nothing. Nobody ever watched it, and it never gave anybody any reason to. If Mandi hates Ms. Ostroff, she’d positively loathe me, because there is no way in hell I would’ve let that thing destroy time slots for 3 straight years when the quality just kept getting worse and worse. Not that it’s a good show, either, but “Gossip Girl” — “Veronica’s” heir apparent — has shown remarkable growth in its second season and is doing something “Veronica” could never do — holding its own on a night. So that right there was one good decision The CW made.

VERONICA MARS was a hit for the CW. It will take a lot to get the CW recognized as legit by the viewing public. Also, I think EVERWOOD followed SMALLVILLE. The WB used to also have SEVENTH HEAVEN followed by BUFFY too right? That network was amusing in how they decided what shows to air and when.

For the CW to work they have to get some shows and nurture them. VERONICA MARS & REAPER were definitely shows that should have been nurtured and promoted better. If you can’t get them to grow at all then move on.

Dawn of the Dead Network takes a lot of flak — including from me, when she kept shoving “Veronica Mars” down my throat and trying to pretend like it was a hit — but I thought she kind of redeemed herself with the Fall ‘08 lineup. For the first time in history, she actually put together a schedule with good flow. “Privileged” and “Stylista” got compatible lead-ins where they stood the best chance of succeeding. It didn’t happen, but they got them. Compare that to the WB, who seemed to go out of their way to pair shows that had no business being paired. (My personal favorite was “Gilmore Girls” followed by “Supernatural.” And “Everwood” followed by “Smallville.”)

As for Amy Sherman-Palladino, she chose to play hard ball, and the CW wasn’t having it. Why should they have given her a 2-year deal for a waning show in its 6th season? She had much bigger things in store, don’t you know? The smash mega hit, “The Return of Jezebel James.” Which FOX cut from 13 episodes to 7. Of which they aired 3. Over 2 weeks. (And that was still 1 more than they aired of her “Love and Marriage” sitbomb.)

Back to the advertisers thing, mind you, they can always, I guess, do what NBC did with “The Book of Daniel” and “God, the Devil & Bob” after the religious nuts drove all the advertisers away. Just have all the commercial breaks be filled with NBC promos and bottom-feeders who will buy spots in dead air, like the Burlington Coat Factory.

Gossip Girl is doing better now but when they made the fall schedule Reaper had better number last seaon overall than GG which is just my point on why wouldn’t you have Reaper as a full season show.

GOSSIP GIRL is now doing better than REAPER did. Hard to say what REAPER would have done if it had a full season.

Dawn’s decisions (especially Sunday) have been so awful that the network might not last past this season. If it does, I’m pretty sure it will be without Dawn.

Julia, there may not be a CW next season. I’m pretty sure Dawn is going to be shown the exit though. Her plans have been horrible. She wrote off shows that have proven to be much more popular. She also doesn’t give any love to the Thursday night lineup generally which is their strongest shows on the chart of success/promotion ratio.

Also, is mowecrew dirtysexyj?

Then I read an interview where Dawn said basically that the CW never had any intention of buying more episodes, but she hoped to mitigate the fan backlash by making the ‘there’s still hope’ comments. Not only did she have no respect for whatever fan efforts we could produce, she also treated us like idiots. That’s when I knew that I was 100% done with the CW. I know lying in probably in the studio exec handbook, but to the extent that she was just so brazen and unapologetic about it made me realize that she really had absolutely no respect for her viewers and she thought she could treat them in any cavalier manner she wanted. Well I do not hold to that, and I won’t give money to sustain that. I haven’t so much as watched a commercial on the CW in over two years and counting. Just an example. I could tell you my CBS story, but that would take longer

The guy really seems like a dick.