Is it good to decide whether a show should live or die based on the audience drop-off from only its second week?

That's something that has come more and more in prominence these days, especially with movies. Thanks to insanely large openings from megaplex theaters that didn't even exist 20 years ago, many films can lose well more than half their audience in the second week, but are still considered a success.

Can that roll over for television as well? So far this season, the networks have premiered 20 new shows, including ABC's "V." Observers are watching "V" closely, and have called its more than 22 percent week-over-week audience drop from its premiere devastating. But how devastating is it?

The BlipNetwork took a look at the 20 new shows and how they opened. The show that retained the most of its audience from its premiere was "The Good Wife" on CBS, which lost only 3.2 percent of its opening week viewers. "NCIS: Los Angeles" was not far behind with just a 3.6 percent drop-off, showing the strength that CBS has had so far this year.

But at the very top of the list was, to no surprise, "The Jay Leno Show." It's Monday premiere versus its Monday follow-up showed a 65.5 percent audience drop. In fact, when compared to other shows this season, "V" is ranked fifth in audience drop-off, but was still better than another ABC program, "Modern Family," which is considered a hit for ABC despite losing 25 percent of its audience.

"V" had a strong opening on a tough night, and is now going head-to-head with "NCIS," which continues to lead all programming with the biggest audience.

Of the top five programs with largest drop-offs, "Jay Leno" is up against "Castle" on ABC and "CSI: Miami" on CBS, which are averaging a 93 percent larger audience than Leno.

"Beautiful Life" was canceled and removed from the air following its second episode, but was up against "Law & Order: SVU" on NBC, "Criminal Minds" on CBS, "Modern Family" and "Cougar Town" on ABC, and "Glee" on Fox. Combined, those shows beat "Beautiful Life's" audience by 490 percent.

"Community" is head-to-head with "Supernatural" on The CW, "CSI" on CBS, "Fringe" on Fox and "Grey's Anatomy" on ABC, and is bested there by 60.5 percent.

"Modern Family" has the same competition as "Beautiful Life," and finds itself besting its competition -- when "Beautiful Life" is included by 18 percent. If you remove the former The CW show, however, finds itself beaten by a little more than 3 percent.

So how bad is a 22 percent drop?

That's up for the networks to decide. "V" remains one of ABC's better performing programs, and how it will rebound in its third week will likely say a lot on where this show's fate lies.

Biggest Audience Drop-offs
1. The Jay Leno Show (NBC) -- 65.5%
2. The Beautiful Life* (CW) -- 27.3%
3. Community (NBC) -- 26.1%
4. Modern Family (ABC) -- 25.0%
5. V (ABC) -- 22.4%
6. Eastwick* (ABC) -- 21.4%
7. Cougar Town (ABC) -- 20.8%
8. Vampire Diaries (CW) -- 19.4%
9. The Forgotten (ABC) -- 19.0%
10. Hank* (ABC) -- 18.5%
10. The Middle (ABC) -- 18.5%
12. Trauma* (NBC) -- 18.2%
13. Melrose Place (CW) -- 17.6%
14. Brothers (Fox) -- 11.1%
15. Accidentally On Purpose (CBS) -- 10.5%
16. Mercy (NBC) -- 7.7%
17. The Cleveland Show (Fox) -- 7.5%
18. Three Rivers (CBS) -- 5.3%
19. NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS) -- 3.6%
20. The Good Wife (CBS) -- 3.2%

* Canceled

Numbers are based on a review of overnight ratings from The Nielsen Co. from premiere week to second week. All shows are weekly shows, except "The Jay Leno Show," which airs weeknights. That show's episode-over-episode drop was 37.3 percent from Sept. 14 to Sept. 15, and would still lead the biggest audience dropoffs in either comparison.