Friday, August 31, 2018

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 8/30/18


FINALS UPDATE: The Gong Show (0.4, -0.4), Take Two (0.2, -0.7), Take Two (0.4, -0.4), Young Sheldon (R) (0.5, -0.7), Mom (R) (0.5, -0.7), Big Brother (1.3, -0.5), S.W.A.T. (R) (0.4, -0.5), Ellen's Game of Games (R) (0.5, -0.5), Will and Grace (R) (0.5, -0.5), Superstore (R) (0.4, -0.4), Law and Order: SVU (R) (0.5, -0.3), MasterChef (R) (0.5, -0.7), The Gifted (R) (0.3, -0.8), Supernatural (R) (0.2, -0.2) and The Originals (R) (0.1, -0.2) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:
  • Numbers to come. Preliminarily ratings are significantly inflated due to preseason NFL preemptions.

The Breakdown: NBC Sunday in 2017-18 (Little Big Shots, Genius Junior, Timeless and more!)




It's time for a journey through the NBC Sunday schedule in 2017-18...

Thursday, August 30, 2018

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Monday, August 27, 2018

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 8/26/18


FINALS UPDATE: Big Brother (1.6) and NFL Preseason Football (1.8, +0.2) adjusted up while Dateline (R) (0.8, -0.2) and Bob's Burgers (R) (0.7, -0.3) adjusted down.


Sunday, August 26, 2018

The Ultimate SpotVault, Chicago PD


The Ultimate SpotVault is a fully sortable record of every single episode in the history of a veteran series. This allows you to compare both raw numbers (total viewership and adults 18-49 rating) as well as the historical-adjusted stat A18-49+ for episodes across different seasons. This table also has the lead-in's A18-49+ for each episode, so you can see which episodes had the most and least support.

Saturday, August 25, 2018

Spotted Ratings, Friday 8/24/18


FINALS UPDATE: Speechless (R) (0.3), What Would You Do? (0.5), 20/20 (R) (0.5), NFL Preseason Football (0.8), American Ninja Warrior (R) (0.5), Dateline (R) (0.5), BIG3 Basketball (0.3, -0.3), Masters of Illusion (R) (0.2, -0.2), Masters of Illusion (R) (0.1, -0.3) and Penn and Teller: Fool Us (R) (0.1, -0.3) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:
  • Preliminary ratings may be inflated due to NFL preseason pre-emptions. This includes even CBS' national NFL game, which was pre-empted in favor of a different game in New York and Boston, among other places.

Friday, August 24, 2018

Sunday, August 19, 2018

The Ultimate SpotVault, How to Get Away with Murder


The Ultimate SpotVault is a fully sortable record of every single episode in the history of a veteran series. This allows you to compare both raw numbers (total viewership and adults 18-49 rating) as well as the historical-adjusted stat A18-49+ for episodes across different seasons. This table also has the lead-in's A18-49+ for each episode, so you can see which episodes had the most and least support.

Saturday, August 18, 2018

Spotted Ratings, Friday 8/17/18


FINALS UPDATE: What Would You Do? (0.5), 20/20 (R) (0.5), TKO: Total Knock Out (0.5, -0.2), Whistleblower (0.3, -0.3), Whistleblower (0.3, -0.2), American Ninja Warrior (R) (0.4, -0.3), BIG3 Basketball (0.3), Masters of Illusion (0.2, -0.2), Masters of Illusion (R) (0.2) and Penn and Teller: Fool Us (R) (0.2) adjusted down. Finals for the sustaining program WE Day were not available so the preliminary rating is included.

WHAT MATTERS:
  • Preliminary ratings are inflated due to NFL preseason pre-emptions.

Friday, August 17, 2018

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 8/16/18


FINALS UPDATE: 20/20 Special (0.6, -0.2), Match Game (0.5, -0.3), Take Two (0.4, -0.2), The Big Bang Theory (R) (0.9, -0.3), Young Sheldon (R) (0.8, -0.3), Big Brother (1.7), S.W.A.T. (R) (0.4, -0.3), Ellen's Game of Games (R) (0.7, -0.4), Trial and Error (0.5, -0.4), Trial and Error (0.4, -0.3), Law and Order: SVU (R) (0.5, -0.2) and NASCAR (0.3) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:
  • Numbers to come. Preliminary ratings may be inflated by NFL preseason pre-emptions. The biggest seem to be on CBS (Boston/Pittsburgh) and NBC (Philadelphia/Green Bay/Milwaukee) but all networks have at least some small ones.

Thursday, August 16, 2018

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 8/15/18


FINALS UPDATE: Big Brother (1.7) adjusted up while Supergirl (R) (0.1) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:
  • America's Got Talent kicked off its Wednesday results shows with a 1.5 rating, down by 29% from the first results show on the year ago evening (2.1). That's not too different from the y2y drops we've been seeing from it lately on Tuesday, but it would be toward the steep end if it doesn't adjust up. In a move to 9:00 to 11:00 and a reunion with its longtime lead-in Got Talent, World of Dance (1.1) matched last week, but now with a 1.2/1.0 hourly breakdown rather than the 1.0/1.2 from a week ago.
  • In its first head-to-head with Got Talent, Big Brother (1.6) came out on top in the prelims, with its highest Wednesday prelim of the season to date. And the season finale of 24 Hours to Hell and Back (1.0) saw the show return to building on its lead-in from MasterChef (0.9).

The Breakdown: Fox Friday in 2017-18 (Hell's Kitchen, MasterChef Junior, The Exorcist)




It's time for a journey through the Fox Friday schedule in 2017-18...

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 8/14/18


FINALS UPDATE: America's Got Talent (2.1) adjusted up while Castaways (0.5) and Making It (0.9) adjusted down.


The War of 18-49, iZombie


A Lot of Flash Lead-ins

In season one, The Flash was one of those situations where you can tell it did a lot better in the ratings than the network was expecting; for the first half of its explosive season one, its biggest-in-CW-history lead-in was used on tenth-year drama Supernatural. At midseason, the network finally got a chance to launch something after The Flash, and it was another comic book-inspired series called iZombie. On its March 17, 2015 premiere night, iZombie averaged 2.29 million viewers and a 0.8 demo rating, leading out of a 1.3 from The Flash. That was basically in line with what Supernatural had been doing in its last Tuesday episodes.

iZombie held up pretty well from there, pulling a 0.7 for the next three weeks, inching back up to 0.8 briefly, then getting a bunch of 0.6's (now at less than 50% retention of The Flash) in late April and May. That made it a little weaker than Supernatural had been, but it was still good enough for a renewal. It came back in the fall after The Flash, but beyond the premiere (0.7 out of a 1.4 lead-in) its days of doing half as well as The Flash were over. Though the retention was bad, iZombie consistently proved itself whenever it was not alongside The Flash; it held onto a 0.5 leading out of a 0.6 MADtv special in January and then another couple 0.5's when it led off for the season finale in April.

Off the Fall Schedule

iZombie survived again, but missed out on the fall schedule this time... only to ultimately end up right back on Tuesday in the spring with that unhelpful Flash lead-in again. At least this time only five of the 13 episodes actually got an original Flash lead-in, but the show got a 0.3 almost every week of the season: those with original Flash lead-ins, those with repeat lead-ins in April, and even those that aired deep into June when the regular season was long over. It got renewed again, and as usual this looked like a bad decision based on the post-Flash episodes and a good decision based on all the other episodes.

In season four, the CW finally shook its obsession with putting iZombie after The Flash, though it still got a high-end lead-in in Supergirl on Monday. It went from 0.3's in season three to a mix of 0.2's and 0.3's in season four, keeping it in pretty marginal territory. The show seemed to be a late call for renewal, competing against some of the pilots in development and not getting renewed till three days after all the network's other renew/cancel decisions were made. But it pulled through, for what the network confirmed will be a final season. That final season aired on Thursday at 8/7c at the very end of the regular season and well into the summer.

Adults 18-49 info by season:

SeasYearSlotAvgy2yLoHiResultsGrade
1Spring 2015Tuesday 9:000.650.50.8detail
22015-160.55-16%0.40.7detailC+
3Spring 20170.32-41%0.20.4detailC-
4Spring 2018Monday 9:000.24-24%0.20.3detailC
5Summer 2019Thursday 8:000.19-21%0.20.2detailC

Historical-adjusted ratings by season:

SeasYearA18-49+LabelNow19y2yLoHiPremiereFinale
1Spring 201539solid(CW)0.3730484830
22015-1638solid(CW)0.36-3%28515135
3Spring 201726marginal(CW)0.25-30%20323225
4Spring 201822flop0.21-15%19303021
5Summer 201920flop0.19-9%17232321

AVERAGE:29marginal(CW)



The War of 18-49 chronicles the ratings history of veteran primetime series. For more, see the Index.

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Spotted Ratings, Monday 8/13/18


FINALS UPDATE: Mom (R) (0.7) adjusted up while The Proposal (0.5), Penn and Teller: Fool Us (0.4), Whose Line Is It Anyway? (0.3) and Whose Line Is It Anyway? (R) (0.3) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:
  • In its first Monday episode of the season, ABC's Bachelor in Paradise (1.3/1.2) perked up a little bit from its season premiere last Tuesday (1.1). That would be down from last year's season premiere on a Monday (1.6) but right in line with the 1.3 in Monday of week two last year.

The Breakdown: NBC Friday in 2017-18 (Blindspot, Dateline, Taken)




It's time for a journey through the NBC Friday schedule in 2017-18...

Monday, August 13, 2018

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 8/12/18


FINALS UPDATE: Big Brother (1.6) and Teen Choice Awards (0.4) adjusted up while 60 Minutes (R) (1.1, -0.2) and NCIS: Los Angeles (R) (0.5, -0.3) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:
  • Thanks to overrun from the PGA Championship, which was massively up year-to-year, the CBS primetime lineup was delayed by 20 minutes. CBS averaged a 1.5 in the 8:00 hour (which included 40 minutes of the Big Brother episode on the East Coast).
  • ABC's game shows (1.0/0.8/0.7) matched last week while NBC's Shades of Blue (0.6) is preliminarily eyeing its first 0.6 since the season premiere. And on Fox, it was another step down for the already tiny-rated Teen Choice Awards (0.3/0.4), which averaged a 0.5 each of the previous two years.

Sunday, August 12, 2018

The Ultimate SpotVault, Mom


The Ultimate SpotVault is a fully sortable record of every single episode in the history of a veteran series. This allows you to compare both raw numbers (total viewership and adults 18-49 rating) as well as the historical-adjusted stat A18-49+ for episodes across different seasons. This table also has the lead-in's A18-49+ for each episode, so you can see which episodes had the most and least support.

Saturday, August 11, 2018

Spotted Ratings, Friday 8/10/18


FINALS UPDATE: TKO: Total Knock Out (0.5), Whistleblower (0.3), The Resident (R) (0.4), Masters of Illusion (0.2), Masters of Illusion (R) (0.2) and Penn and Teller: Fool Us (R) (0.2, -0.2) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:
  • Preliminary ratings on CBS, Fox and CW are inflated due to NFL preseason pre-emptions.

SpotVault - Bachelor in Paradise (ABC) - Summer 2018 Ratings



SpotVault - Castaways (ABC) - Summer 2018 Ratings



SpotVault - Better Call Saul (AMC) - Summer 2018 Ratings



SpotVault - Lodge 49 (AMC) - Summer 2018 Ratings



SpotVault - Chesapeake Shores (HALLMARK CHANNEL) - Summer 2018 Ratings



SpotVault - Wrecked (TBS) - Summer 2018 Ratings



Friday, August 10, 2018

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 8/9/18


FINALS UPDATE: The Gong Show (0.4, -0.4), Match Game (0.6, -0.4), Take Two (0.6, -0.2), The Big Bang Theory (R) (0.7, -0.7), Young Sheldon (R) (0.7, -0.8), Big Brother (1.4, -0.6), S.W.A.T. (R) (0.4, -0.7), America's Got Talent (R) (0.7, -0.7), Trial and Error (0.4, -0.7), Trial and Error (0.3, -0.7), Law and Order: SVU (R) (0.5, -0.3), MasterChef (R) (0.5, -0.5), MasterChef (R) (0.7, -0.4), Supernatural (R) (0.1, -0.2) and Black Lightning (R) (0.1, -0.2) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:
  • Numbers to come. Preliminary broadcast ratings are significantly inflated due to NFL preseason pre-emptions.

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 8/7/18


FINALS UPDATE: Beat Shazam (0.7) adjusted up while Making It (0.9) and The Outpost (0.1) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:
  • ABC's Bachelor in Paradise (1.1/1.0) got a Tuesday premiere on the night after The Bachelorette's finale. It was way down from last year's Monday premiere (1.6) but basically even with last year's first Tuesday episode (1.1), so we'll have to see how much additional audience joins in next Monday. At 10/9c came the premiere of reality series Castaways (0.7), which didn't drum up a lot of interest but didn't really look any worse than where The Proposal premiered out of The Bachelorette (0.8 out of a 1.4).
  • NBC still ruled across the board on Tuesday with America's Got Talent (1.8/2.1) and week two of Making It (1.0), which would be down just a tenth from last week if it holds in finals. (Though the 1.2 -> 0.8 breakdown is not pretty.)
  • Fox's Beat Shazam fell to its first 0.6, and The 100 held at 0.3 in its season finale.

The War of 18-49, Madam Secretary


A Companion for The Good Wife

CBS' The Good Wife had not set the ratings on fire in its move to Sunday during the 2011-12 season. But the network clearly liked whatever it was getting out of the show, enough to give another Sunday hour over to a show in the same vein. Madam Secretary took over the Sunday 8/7c slot long occupied by The Amazing Race, and even compared with the low-end later Race seasons it was clearly a downgrade; that show had averaged a 2.0 in fall 2013, while Madam Secretary premiered to a 2.0, got mid-1's most nights and some high-1's on some NFL nights.

In the spring, the difference was even starker; Madam fell into the low-1's (including two 1.0's to the end the season), while the Race got high-1's the previous season. But whatever had kept The Good Wife going for so many years rubbed off on Madam Secretary, as well; the show returned to the 8/7c slot for season two and produced very similar results Plus-wise throughout the season.

Sliding Later and Later

Madam Secretary survived again into season three, but its days in the primo 8/7c slot were over. It moved to 9/8c, where it barely broke 1.0 for most of the fall and was almost completely fractional after the new year. Plus-wise, this was pretty similar numbers to the last couple seasons of The Good Wife. Season four brought another move an hour later and another significant drop in the ratings. The good news is that in this slot, Madam Secretary was actually a consistent improvement on what Elementary had done there a season ago.

So while Madam Secretary has been low-rated throughout its life and kept alive for other reasons, at least it's finally found its way to the slot where it can do little or even no damage. The network never pulled the trigger on a The Good Wife move to Sunday 10/9c (maybe because they also had Elementary to deal with), and that held them back from getting competitive ratings on the night. Putting Madam at 10/9c and 'trying' in the other two hours feels like a more satisfying balance.

Adults 18-49 info by season:

SeasYearSlotAvgy2yLoHiResultsGrade
12014-15Sunday 8:001.441.02.0detail
22015-161.20-16%0.92.0detailC
32016-17Sunday 9:000.87-27%0.71.1detailC
42017-18Sunday 10:000.62-29%0.50.8detailB-
52018-190.56-10%0.40.8detailC+
6Fall 20190.41-26%0.30.5detailC

Historical-adjusted ratings by season:

SeasYearA18-49+LabelNow20y2yLoHiPremiereFinale
12014-1585marginal0.705911911959
22015-1683marginal0.68-3%6513710069
32016-1771marginal0.59-13%56939356
42017-1857flop0.46-21%47757556
52018-1959flop0.48+4%42876242
6Fall 201950flop0.41-15%39665456

AVERAGE:68flop
CAREER:405utility



The War of 18-49 chronicles the ratings history of veteran primetime series. For more, see the Index.

Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Spotted Ratings, Monday 8/6/18


FINALS UPDATE: Elementary (0.3) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:
  • The three-hour season finale of The Bachelorette (1.8/1.8/1.7) got its usual hefty spike but was still roughly three tenths behind last year's finale. That's just a bit larger year-to-year decline than the season as a whole (which should finish about -9%, or up a touch in Plus).
  • Fox went with a two-hour edition of So You Think You Can Dance (0.6) while NBC was even to narrowly down with American Ninja Warrior (1.0/1.1) and Dateline (0.7).

Sunday, August 5, 2018

The Ultimate SpotVault, The Flash


The Ultimate SpotVault is a fully sortable record of every single episode in the history of a veteran series. This allows you to compare both raw numbers (total viewership and adults 18-49 rating) as well as the historical-adjusted stat A18-49+ for episodes across different seasons. This table also has the lead-in's A18-49+ for each episode, so you can see which episodes had the most and least support.

Saturday, August 4, 2018

Spotted Ratings, Friday 8/3/18


FINALS UPDATE: American Ninja Warrior (R) (0.5), Masters of Illusion (R) (0.1), Masters of Illusion (R) (0.1, -0.2) and Penn and Teller: Fool Us (R) (0.2) adjusted down.


Thursday, August 2, 2018

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 8/1/18


FINALS UPDATE: The Goldbergs (R) (0.6) and The Goldbergs (R) (0.5) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:
  • In its second episode on Wednesday, World of Dance (1.1) was up a tenth in both preliminary hours (1.0/1.2). That pulled it into second place at 8/7c, where MasterChef (0.9) was down a notch as its teammate 24 Hours to Hell and Back was in repeat mode (0.7). Big Brother (1.5), Reverie (0.4) and the CW dramas (0.2/0.3) all matched last week.

The Breakdown: CW Thursday in 2017-18 (Supernatural, Arrow)




It's time for a journey through the CW Thursday schedule in 2017-18...

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 7/31/18


FINALS UPDATE: NCIS (R) (0.4) and The Outpost (0.1) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:
  • NBC's reality series Making It (1.1) premiered after America's Got Talent (1.9/2.2) at a bit below where World of Dance had settled in the slot. It looks pretty similar to what Hollywood Game Night has done in 2015 and 2017 with a Got Talent lead-in, and maybe about the same strength as the Maya and Mary premiere in 2016 (which had a 1.5 out of a 2.6 AGT). Not a huge positive or negative so far, and it will probably need to hold up fairly well from here.
  • Elsewhere, Love Connection is eyeing its first 0.4, while ABC aired a six-episode Splitting Up Together repeat marathon (0.5/0.4/0.4/0.4/0.4/0.4) with Bachelor in Paradise and Castaways due to join the night next week.

The War of 18-49, Fresh Off the Boat


Self-Starting in Season One

Fall 2014 saw ABC take its family comedy brand to a new level, with sophomore The Goldbergs breaking out at 8:30 and rookie Black-ish succeeding at 9:30. The problem was that there was another promising family comedy in reserve, newbie Fresh Off the Boat, and not really anywhere to put it. ABC decided to give it a one-night Wednesday preview but then leave it to fend for itself on Tuesday. The Wednesday episodes showed some promise; its 2.5 at 8:30 after The Middle (2.2) was as good or better than what The Goldbergs was usually doing, and the same for the 2.3 after Modern Family (3.4) was as good or better than Black-ish.

That promise very much carried over to Tuesday, where Fresh Off the Boat opened with an above league-average 1.7/1.8 for its double-episode timeslot premiere, then went up to 1.9 the next week. It fell for several weeks in a row after that (coinciding with the arrival of Daylight Saving Time) but still pulled itself back up to a 1.5 in the last couple weeks of its run in mid-April. That was good enough for renewal.

Attempts to Upgrade the Timeslot

Since showing that spark in season one, ABC has tried on multiple occasions to put Fresh Off the Boat in better situations. It got back up to very high-1's in the early fall 2015, when it led out of the high-profile mockumentary take on The Muppets. But Muppets fell very hard very fast, and FotB pretty quickly found itself building on that lead-in with mid- and then low-1's. By the second half of the season, The Muppets was gone and Fresh Off the Boat was back to self-starting with low-1's.

In 2016-17, ABC spread out its embarrassment of Wednesday comedy riches, moving The Middle to Tuesday. Fresh Off the Boat aired at 9/8c after strong newbie American Housewife, which was probably the closest thing to a major timeslot upgrade that FotB got, and it managed to hold in the low-1's for most of the season. It became the direct Middle lead-out in season four and seemed to get a notch weaker, declining in Plus even though it missed out on the last two months of the season. (Although the last two months of the season in this case contained the enormous Roseanne revival...)

The Friday Move

In season five, Fresh Off the Boat got back to its self-starting roots, leading off a return to Friday comedy after the network bombed on the night with Once Upon a Time the previous season. It was of course diminished considerably from its Tuesday years, but helped the network rebuild some of what it lost after the cancellation of Last Man Standing. In season six, it was no longer be in the 8/7c slot, as American Housewife came over to Friday to lead off.

Adults 18-49 info by season:

SeasYearSlotAvgy2yLoHiResultsGrade
1Winter Spring 2015Wednesday 8:301.721.32.5detail
22015-16Tuesday 8:301.32-24%0.91.9detailC+
32016-17Tuesday 9:001.16-12%1.01.6detailB
42017-18Tuesday 8:301.02-13%0.91.4detailC
52018-19Friday 8:000.61-40%0.50.7detailB-
62019-20Friday 8:300.44-28%0.30.5detailC

Historical-adjusted ratings by season:

SeasYearA18-49+LabelNow20y2yLoHiPremiereFinale
1Winter Spring 2015102solid0.847714914989
22015-1690marginal0.74-12%6313113184
32016-1795marginal0.78+5%8112712783
42017-1893marginal0.76-2%7912412489
52018-1964solid(Fri)0.53-30%48786266
62019-2054flop0.44-16%40666552

AVERAGE:83marginal
CAREER:499utility



The War of 18-49 chronicles the ratings history of veteran primetime series. For more, see the Index.

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