Thursday, June 1, 2017

The Breakdown: CBS Monday in 2016-17 (Kevin Can Wait, Man with a Plan, Scorpion and more!)




It's time for a journey through the CBS Monday schedule in 2016-17...


fall

Year8:008:309:009:3010:0010:30Avg
2015-16SupergirlScorpionNCIS: Los Angeles113
12812487
2016-17Kevin Can WaitMan with a Plan2 Broke GirlsThe Odd CoupleScorpion110 (-3%)
152 (+19%)108 (-15%)114 (-8%)82 (-34%)102 (+17%)
130 (+2%)98 (-21%)
VsAvg+9%-32%-20%-15%
Rank4/1616/1612/1616/16

This is Kevin's full fall average, including the 8:30 episodes after The Big Bang Theory. It'd be a 125 with just the 8:00 average. That would still be an improvement on Supergirl, which would drop to 115 if you throw out its 8:30 premiere.

The hour that really stuck out as a problem from the jump was 9:00, where the network perhaps reached a bit to create a fourth comedy hour and was consistently about 20% behind Scorpion. Meanwhile, Scorpion moved to 10/9c and was an improvement on NCIS: Los Angeles. Oddly, most of that improvement came from the fall episodes, when it had the worst lead-in with The Odd Couple.

winter

Year8:008:309:009:3010:0010:30Avg
2015-16SupergirlScorpionNCIS: Los Angeles115
115130101
2016-17Kevin Can WaitMan with a PlanSuperior Donuts2 Broke GirlsScorpion108 (-6%)
125 (+9%)112 (-2%)104 (-20%)110 (-16%)99 (-2%)
119 (+3%)107 (-18%)
VsAvg+0%-23%-18%-14%
Rank9/1615/1613/1615/16

The comparisons got a little better for CBS in the winter, as the comedies did a better job taking advantage of higher viewing levels and the absences of The Voice and Dancing with the Stars. Also, The Odd Couple cleared out in favor of Superior Donuts.

spring

Year8:008:309:009:3010:0010:30Avg
2015-16SupergirlScorpionNCIS: Los Angeles96
9510885
2016-17Kevin Can WaitMan with a PlanSuperior Donuts2 Broke GirlsScorpion88 (-9%)
95 (+1%)84 (-11%)83 (-23%)84 (-22%)90 (+5%)
90 (-5%)83 (-23%)
VsAvg-8%-34%-23%-23%
Rank11/1616/1612/1616/16

But the DST/Voice/Dancing triple-whammy in the spring was not good times for the lineup. Kevin Can Wait still eked out a tiny improvement on Supergirl, but the other three half-hours fell even farther. Scorpion quietly held up well in the spring episodes.

Rating the Ratings

NameLoAvgHiy2yPlusLabelPlusy2yResults
Kevin Can Wait1.11.612.7131hitdetail
Man with a Plan1.01.241.6101soliddetail
2 Broke Girls*1.01.311.7-19%107solid-3%detail
Superior Donuts0.91.181.997marginaldetail
The Odd Couple0.91.011.1-28%82marginal-15%detail
Scorpion1.01.201.5-33%98marginal-20%detail

Kevin Can Wait: Going back to two Monday comedy hours was a gamble. If the only way of grading it was comparing Kevin Can Wait with Supergirl, you could very reasonably call the gamble a win. The post-Big Bang run inflates it into hit territory, but even its 116 average at 8:00 makes it one of the best self-starting comedy newbies in recent memory. Dropped a bit more than I would've liked post-DST but leading off at near-league average ratings is still good. Grade: B+.

Man with a Plan: I said that I was down on this show prior to the upfronts, but even I didn't think CBS would be down enough to keep it off the fall schedule! It has pretty good live retention from Kevin but little indication of a loyal audience, and now it's questionable whether it will actually see that lead-in again. A worthy renewal but not much more than that. Grade: C+.

2 Broke Girls: Just in time for cancellation, 2 Broke Girls finally posted a season that was close to even in Plus. After its move to 9:30, it seemed a bit stronger than the 8:30 and 9:00 newbies, but not enough to have a major beef. Grade: B-.

Superior Donuts: Basically another Man with a Plan-level performer. Despite the more topical subject matter, there's not much indication that a different audience latched onto this show, compared with the 8:00 comedies. We'll see if the mixing with single-cams will change things. Grade: C+.

The Odd Couple: A big part of the verdict on CBS' comedy expansion was going to be how the marginal former Big Bang lead-outs held up at 9:30, and The Odd Couple definitely did not pass the test. It was easily the weak link of all these shows, even without having to air beyond January. It didn't have any Big Bang lead-ins, but it's still a bad trend since it moved from the late spring to the fall/winter. Grade: D+.

Scorpion: It was definitely the biggest casualty of the comedy expansion, but still one of the strongest 10:00 shows on TV. Its decline in True Plus was only half or less of what it was in Raw Plus, but that's still a decline. Grade: C+.

The names in this last table link to the shows' War of 18-49 pages. Links with an asterisk(*) have been updated with the new info. Updates to younger shows will come later in the summer.

Here's the now updated Schedules Plus for CBS Monday.

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