AirLockAlpha.com

The worst part of starting a season later than everyone else is that you're growing pains are much more noticeable when everyone else is already through theirs.

That's exactly what the new ABC series "V" is facing in its third week after losing another 9 percent of its audience to finish with a 6.0 rating/9 share, according to Fast National ratings from The Nielsen Co. Not only is that a drop from the previous week, but it's now more than 29 percent off its series premiere.

In all, however, "V" remains this season's best-rated network genre show, averaging a 7.0/10, and still doing stronger after three episodes than ABC's other genre series, "FlashForward." That Brannon Braga/David S. Goyer vehicle premiered with a 7.7/3 compared to "V's" 8.5/13, and was down to a 5.9/9 by its third episode. "FlashForward" is currently averaging a 6.1/10 after eight episodes.

And "V" has some tough competition. It goes head-to-head with CBS powerhouse "NCIS," which recorded a 12.3/19 this week, finishing above its 12.1/19 average for the second week in a row. It remains the top-rated network program, and by far the top-rated scripted network program as right now only ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" can compete with it. "FlashForward," on the other hand, counts its main competition on Thursdays as "Survivor" on CBS and "Bones" on Fox, neither of which are coming anywhere close to doubling "V's" audience.

While at least one news outlet is characterizing the ratings for "V" as something that has the show in deep trouble, in reality, it's still performing well for ABC. It finished second in its timeslot Thursday behind only "NCIS," making easy work of an NBC block of the "Merry Madagascar" special and "The Biggest Loser" (which averaged a 5.1/8, according to Zap2it), and "So You Think You Can Dance" on Fox, which managed a 4.2/6.

There is just one episode left of "V" this year, but there is no question ABC plans to bring the show back in the spring. Of course, it's still too early to tell if the show will continue for a second season or not, but sources have confirmed to Airlock Alpha that they have not heard any talk about a demise for "V."

Unfortunately, the news isn't the same for "Heroes." The NBC show on Monday hit a series low, a 3.2/5, finishing well behind just about everything including "Dancing" on ABC, the comedy block of "How I Met Your Mother" and "Accidentally On Purpose" on CBS, and "House" on Fox (and not necessarily in that order).

The audience was nearly 6 percent off its previous week and is now nearly 18 percent off its season premiere, which wasn't very impressive to begin with. "Heroes" is now averaging a 3.5/5 this season, 25 percent lower than its average last season, and 47 percent lower than the year before.

For Tuesday, ABC finished the night in second place with a 7.0/11 behind the "NCIS"-fueled CBS, which earned a 10.0/16. On Monday, NBC finished ahead of only The CW with a 3.2/5. ABC won that night with a 10.4/16.

Fast Nationals usually provide a snapshot of what Americans are watching by pulling numbers from the top urban markets that includes both live viewing and same-day timeshifted viewing. A rating point generally represents more than 1.1 million households while the share indicates the percentage of televisions turned on that was tuned to the specific program. These numbers typically shift when final ratings are issued.