Why do tv shows compete with each other at the cost of viewers?

[Joelcool7]

Disclaimer, I admit I am not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to television stats, but this question has been bothering me a lot recently!

So I have noticed something, television channels are worried more about competition with one another then actually succeeding to draw in viewers. For the most part, this became apparent as soon as this season begun. What am I referring too?

Monday's are hectic and insane, House, Hawaii Five O,  Two and half Men, Terra Nova, PlayBoy Club (Deceased), Gossip Girl and Dancing with the stars. Among other programs from other channels all aired on Monday some at the same time as one another. I mean pitting Terra Nova directly against Two and Half Men was foolish. T&HM is a Juggernaut and would obviously draw viewers away from Terra Nova. Gossip Girl against Play Boy Club , what was the television network behind Play Boy Club thinking?

Now that I've talked Monday I realized that other then Mondays the rest of the week is sparsely populated. A few new shows on Tuesday's , Wed a few others, Thursday seems to be comedy night with CBS, Friday has Nikita. Saturday's have virtually nothing. Is this only because I am in Canada or is the situation identacle in the US? Sunday sees Animation Domination dominate the air waves and for some reason the new series called Pan Am takes it on directly.

So I understand why most shows avoid airing Friday evenings because teens and young adults are rarely at home watching tv. But what about other days why do television networks target each other directly.

Example Play Boy Club got 5-million views at its premier. It brought in around 4 consistently till its cancellation. But it was pitted against series with far more seniority and installed viewership, wouldn't it have been smarter after receiving such poor numbers to change the date or air time so that it was no longer in direct competition with a more successful show? In fact why did the network put Play Boy Club in such a competitive position day one anyways?

Terra Nova for example has so much potential and could bring in way more American viewers if it wasn't competing against the biggest comedy on American television (Two and Half Men). In Canada Terra Nova was originally supposed to air on a Thursday before Big Bang Theory and How I Met your Mother. I think that time slot would have been more beneficial to the shows success.

I'm not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to television numbers. I recently realized I look at global numbers most often to see if a show is successful, but Seece pointed out American companies only care about American ratings the Canadian viewpoint is different. So can someone explain why the shows always compete directly with one another rather then finding a slot where they have the viewers all to themselves?

I look at it from a business point of view I would put my product in a market where I have the best chance of being successful rather then trying to compete with everyone else. Say more people view TV Monday nights which I assume must be fact, if everyone goes for the big pie they divide it up so small amongst one another that it is no longer worth it. While there is a smaller market on another day you get a much larger piece of pie.

So why do you think all the networks are competing with one another in direct clashes rather then placing their bigger shows in time slots where they don't directly harm one another?