15 years ago we would have asked “Brandon or Dylan?” and “Amanda or Sydney?”. Today we ask “Liam or Navid?” and “Ella or Riley?”. Resurrected from the 90′s, The CW has brought back two of the most popular teen and 20-something dramas. Today we’re pitting the most famous zip code against the most famous place.

Looking back over the past 6 months, Collective Intellect uncovered roughly 92,000 and 41,000 conversations revolving around 90210 and Melrose Place, respectively. Ok, that stat really surprised me. 90210 has over twice the amount of conversations happening than Melrose Place? That’s a lot. But again, on September 8^th, 2009, 90210 began season two and Melrose Place premiered the new series. Both of these shows air on Tuesday’s: 90210 at 8/7c and Melrose Place at 9/8c. The daily breakout of conversations is as follows:

So that makes sense. The day the episode airs, the most conversations occur and with each passing day that number gets progressively smaller. However, this is 2010 and with the advent of TIVO and on-demand (whether through your cable provider, a network website or Hulu) you would think these percentages should be more spread out.

Take a look at a 5 month activity timeline covering 1 month prior to the premieres through the 2010 New Year:

Melrose Place comes out of the gate strong and beats 90210. This is most likely due to the hype of the series premiere. Moving forward 90210 generates more conversations except for one day, September 22^nd, when it was announced that Heather Locklear would be joining the cast later in the season. Roughly 12% of 90210 and 25% of Melrose Place conversations occur within the first month of the premiere. Melrose Place generated a lot of conversations from the get-go, however it didn’t sustain them for the next 5 months.

Does The CW, or any network nowadays, factor the amount of internet chatter into the show’s success rating? They should, because online discussion levels can serve as indicators of a show’s resonance with viewers, as well as help determine future ratings changes, so it will become more and more important for networks to truly understand how to interpret what people are naturally saying about TV shows.