Nellie Andreeva

Its big premiere was not a fluke as Fox’s New Girl cemented its status of a breakout hit with a very strong Week 2 showing. The comedy starring Zooey Deschanel (4.4/11 in adults 18-49) was down only 6% from the fast national demo rating for its debut last week. (Along with Glee, New Girl will probably be adjusted up in the finals like last week, so a fast nationals-to-fast nationals comparison is more accurate.) For a second consecutive week, New Girl was the top program of the night in 18-49, and for a second straight week it built onto its Glee lead-in. The high school musical dramedy (3.6/10) was down 5% from its fast national last week. New Girl‘s lead-out, sophomore comedy Raising Hope (2.9/7), was down 6% from last week’s season premiere, holding onto a so-so 66% of the big New Girl numbers. Fox (3.6/9, 8.1 million) was No. 1 in 18-49 for a second week in a row.

CBS’ NCIS franchise continues its impressive fall run. At 8 PM, the mothership series (4.2/12, 19.2 million), which is in its ninth season, didn’t skip a beat, matching its fast national rating from the season premiere last week. (It too was adjusted up in the finals.) For a second straight week, NCIS topped time-slot rival Glee in 18-49 and was the most watched program of the night. NCIS: LA (3.5/9, 16.1 million) was down a tenth in the demo week-to-week. But new procedural Unforgettable (2.5/8, 12.3 million) couldn’t keep up, dropping 14% from its debut. It still won the 10 PM hour, but Unforgettable is already approaching the ratings levels of the series it replaced, The Good Wife, and the question is whether the show will continue to slide before bottoming out. CBS (3.4/9, 15.9 million) won the night in total viewers and was second to Fox in 18-49.

Good news for NBC, which had the only series on the Big 4 networks to post week-to-week gains last night: Parenthood (2.2/6), which was up a tenth from last Tuesday. Its lead-in, The Biggest Loser (2.2/6), was down a tenth.

ABC’s Dancing With the Stars results show (2.8/7) matched its fast national from last week, but there was another alarming drop for sophomore procedural Body of Proof (1.9/5). It was down 14% from last week to a series low after posting a 26% ratings drop from its first- to second-season opener. The show’s first season launched in midseason with lesser competition, but still, the downward trend is raising a flag.

After being clobbered by the broadcast competition last week, CW’s 90210 was up 38% week-to-week in adults 18-34 (1.1/4) and a tenth in 18-49 (0.8/2). Ringer held steady.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.