Tuesday Comedy's Last Gasp
Abbott Elementary came to ABC on the tail end of a decent run for Tuesday comedy, defined by shows like The Middle, The Conners and Black-ish. Following a preview (0.63) after a Live in Front of a Studio Audience special (0.96), Abbott Elementary brought that entire audience (0.64) to its premiere on January 4, 2022 following reality newbie Judge Steve Harvey (0.73). The show stayed quite close to its premiere rating, hitting 0.6's throughout the rest of the winter, then impressively managed 0.5 or better for its last four episodes in the spring, building big on a much-weakened Steve Harvey.
A Wednesday Staple
Abbott had enough buzz and ratings juice to earn an upgrade to Wednesday, while the network handed Tuesday completely over to reality and dramas. It became the heir apparent to the mockumentary tradition that Modern Family had held down in the 9/8c hour for more than a decade. While it wasn't at Modern levels, it did build significantly out of past-its-prime The Goldbergs and handily outrated the year-ago occupant, The Conners.
Season three saw it return to the 9/8c anchor role, but it was delayed until February due to the writers' strike and buried after an even weaker 8:30 occupant, sophomore Not Dead Yet. It struggled to keep up with the previous year's performance, especially early in the spring, but got a major boost during May sweeps from its pairing with Jeopardy! Masters.
With all the other longtime Wednesday anchors gone, season four of Abbott was left to languish in a 9:30 timeslot following The Golden Bachelorette in the fall. Again, Abbott managed to benefit from a better situation later in the season. It moved to 8:30 and followed Tim Allen newbie Shifting Gears, where its crossover with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (214 Plus) produced easily the show's highest regularly-scheduled result ever. In subsequent episodes after Shifting and the final season of The Conners, it once again became the consistent league average or better performer from its first two seasons.
Few shows have been able to capitalize on a favorable situation quite like Abbott Elementary. Clearly it has a lot of awareness outside its core audience that attracts casual tune-in. The question is whether the comedy-starved ABC can keep finding those situations. It'll air after Shifting again in season five, but that show lost a lot of juice over the course of its rookie season.
Adults 18-49 info by season:
| Seas | Year | Slot | Avg | y2y | Lo | Hi | Results | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Winter 2021-22 | Tuesday 9:00 | 0.56 | 0.4 | 0.6 | detail | B+ | |
| 2 | 2022-23 | Wednesday 9:00 | 0.50 | -12% | 0.4 | 0.6 | detail | A- |
| 3 | Spring 2024 | 0.45 | -9% | 0.3 | 1.4 | detail | C | |
| 4 | 2024-25 | Wed 9:30, Wed 8:30 | 0.35 | -22% | 0.3 | 0.7 | detail | B+ |
Historical-adjusted ratings by season:
| Seas | Year | A18-49+ | Label | Now25 | y2y | Lo | Hi | Premiere | Finale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Winter 2021-22 | 111 | solid | 0.35 | 80 | 125 | 123 | 112 | |
| 2 | 2022-23 | 117 | solid | 0.37 | +6% | 98 | 136 | 134 | 129 |
| 3 | Spring 2024 | 119 | solid | 0.38 | +2% | 71 | 377 | 127 | 116 |
| 4 | 2024-25 | 112 | solid | 0.35 | -7% | 82 | 214 | 117 | 95 |
| AVERAGE: | 115 | solid | |||||||
| CAREER: | 459 | utility | |||||||
The War of 18-49 chronicles the ratings history of veteran primetime series. For more, see the Index.
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