Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Schedules Plus, ABC Wednesday


Schedules Plus is another innovative application of the historical ratings statistic A18-49+. I hope this will be the ultimate resource for comparing the evolution of shows, networks and timeslots over time, complete with ratings numbers that make a fair adjustment for the collective decline. Right now this only includes programs aired in the fall. Much more about the process that went into this at the bottom.

ABC Wednesday has centered around one signature show in recent years, but those shows have been very different. At the start of the A18-49+ era, reality series The Bachelor was in charge. Then came breakout drama Lost in 2004. And after a brief stop-off with Private Practice, Wednesday then became a comedy-centric night, led by two-time megahit Modern Family.

ABC Wednesday


8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 Avg
2001-02 My Wife and Kids According to Jim The Drew Carey Show Whose Line Is It Anyway?20/20 95
104 100 97 9686
102 97
2002-03 My Wife and Kids George Lopez The Bachelor FallMDs 113
101 9517864
98
2003-04 My Wife and Kids It's All Relative The Bachelor FallKaren Sisco 105
91 8415970
88
2004-05 Lost The Bachelor FallWife Swap 120
169 91 101
2005-06 George Lopez Freddie LostInvasion 118
62 6819594
65
2006-07 Dancing with the Stars Tue Fall LostThe Nine 130
128 185 78
2007-08 Pushing Daisies Private PracticeDirty Sexy Money 104
97 127 88
2008-09 Pushing Daisies Private PracticeDirty Sexy Money 70
59 87 64
2009-10 Hank The Middle Modern Family Cougar TownEastwick 83
58 81 134 10459
69 119
2010-11 The Middle Better with You Modern Family Cougar TownThe Whole Truth 91
96 80 174 10248
88 138
2011-12 The Middle Suburgatory Modern Family Happy EndingsRevenge 126
110 110 214 115104
110 164
2012-13 The Middle The Neighbors Modern Family SuburgatoryNashville 113
108 88 201 10189
98 151
2013-14 The Middle Back in the Game Modern Family Super Fun NightNashville 107
109 93 188 9478
101 141
2014-15 The Middle The Goldbergs Modern Family Black-ishNashville 122
119 130 190 13680
124 163

Avg 100 143 79 107





2014-15 Update: ABC put four family comedies together, and the result was one of the season's biggest ratings bonanzas. The Goldbergs and Black-ish each improved their own timeslots by 40%ish and were able to drag past-their-prime lead-outs Modern Family and Nashville to minor growth as well. The best trend among the incumbents actually belonged to lead-off comedy The Middle, which was up to a historical-adjusted series high in its sixth season. These five will stay together in 2015-16, though Nashville is supposed to make room for Secrets and Lies at midseason.

Notable midseason replacements:
  • The only things that really worked after The Bachelor in the early aughts were unscripted: Celebrity Mole (124 in 2003, 99 in 2004) and Extreme Makeover (113 in spring 2003, then 105 for its return in spring 2004).
  • After season three of Lost, the arrangement to end the show after season six meant shorter seasons, and ABC held them for midseason consecutive runs. Only one of those seasons went on Wednesday; that was 2008-09's season five (150), which took over after the fall 2007 all-newbies lineup blew up in season two. It was followed by Thursday transplant Life on Mars (62) and preceded by comedies Scrubs (72) and Better Off Ted (59).
  • The post-Modern Family midseason replacements: 2010-11's Mr. Sunshine (yay.) (86), 2011-12's Apartment 23 (99), 2012-13's How to Live (101) and 2013-14's Mixology (75). Season one of Happy Endings (70) in 2010-11 mostly aired in the 10:00 hour.
See here for more explanations/disclaimers about Schedules Plus.

No comments:

Post a Comment

© SpottedRatings.com 2009-2022. All Rights Reserved.