The Breakdown: CBS Thursday in 2015-16 (The Big Bang Theory, Life in Pieces, Mom and more!)

It's time for a journey through the CBS Thursday schedule in 2015-16...

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 2/4/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The Big Bang Theory (3.8) went up a tenth, while Life in Pieces (2.2) and Mom (1.7) each went down a tenth. 

• Thursday champ The Big Bang Theory (3.7) was back in originals for the first time in three weeks, and that was not welcome news for some of its competition. NBC's You, Me and the Apocalypse (0.9) had a tough second week, dropping 25%, and the downward momentum continued throughout NBC's night. The Blacklist (1.5) was just barely down at 9/8c, but perhaps most worrying of all was the two-tenth hit to Shades of Blue (1.1) at 10/9c.

• The CW also got stung in the 8/7c hour with Legends of Tomorrow (0.9), though it stayed on par with this week's episode of Arrow since it was also down. The 100 did well to cling to 0.6 again at 9/8c.

• Though a Big Bang repeat didn't hurt Life in Pieces' last original two weeks ago, its original actually did help; Life in Pieces (2.3) is preliminarily tracking toward its best rating since the series premiere. Mom (1.8) was also up a touch, but Angel from Hell (1.4) and Elementary (1.1) remained frozen.

• ABC saw a slight decline for the second night of Madoff (1.0), but an aftershow actually grew at 10/9c (1.2). Fox won yet another pre-TGIT Thursday with American Idol (2.2/2.3).

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 1/28/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC opened new dramedy You, Me and the Apocalypse (1.2) to soft but not-totally-awful results, going a couple ticks above recent episodes of Heroes Reborn in the hour. It will have to do well going forward to stay at Heroes levels long-term (and it avoided both The Big Bang Theory and Grey's Anatomy on this night), but it may at least be able to meet the low expectations that come with a foreign co-production.
• And at least for now, Apocalypse wasn't a drag on the lead-out dramas, as The Blacklist hung yet another 1.6 at 9/8c. Shades of Blue inched back down to 1.3.

• It was an encouraging second week for the CW's new Thursday lineup, as Legends of Tomorrow (1.1) and The 100 (0.6) each dropped just a tenth in week two.

• CBS went with repeats of The Big Bang Theory (2.0), Mom (1.6) and The Big Bang Theory (1.7) in the first 90 minutes. The second TBBT meant the network was hitting its normal number at 9/8c, and thus the lead-out originals of Angel from Hell (1.4) and Elementary (1.1) stayed steady.

• ABC mercifully bid farewell to its uncompetitive bridge lineup of Beyond the Tank (1.1) and My Diet is Better Than Yours (0.7), each up a tenth from recent results. BTT will be back for one more Thursday at 10/9c leading out of the Madoff miniseries.

• And Fox's American Idol (2.3) quietly won another Thursday, down a tenth from last week. More on Fox News' Trump-less Republican debate after finals!

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 1/21/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The Blacklist (1.6) adjusted up and My Diet is Better Than Yours (0.6) adjusted down. The CW's shows did not adjust, leaving The 100 with its first 0.7+ since the second week of the series (3/26/14).

• On perhaps the highest-stakes night of the season for the CW, the results were reasonably positive but not spectacular. DC's Legends of Tomorrow didn't come anywhere near the fall 2014 The Flash opener (1.9 on 10/7/14), but it still opened with a great-for-CW 3.14 million viewers and a 1.2 demo rating. That nestles it right between this week's episodes of The Flash (1.3) and Arrow (1.1). As with any series premiere, it's unlikely to sustain this level, but it's certainly given itself a lot of room to work with.
• Leading out was the season three premiere of The 100, whose 0.7 preliminary rating would top anything from season two. It should be strongly stressed here that Legends of Tomorrow ran three minutes into the 9:00 hour, so The 100 will adjust down (at least in the un-rounded numbers). But the worst-case scenario is a tie with last season's high point, so it's a fine to good start either way.

• The big four generally had an encouraging night as well, as perhaps some viewers came back to broadcast from last week's GOP debate. The best news came on CBS, which got its first look at an original Life in Pieces (2.0) with a repeat lead-in from The Big Bang Theory (2.2). Life in Pieces was actually even with last week when TBBT had a 3.8, a rather shockingly strong hold that makes the show's best renewal case yet.
• The network also held up well in the last two hours with Mom (1.7), Angel from Hell (up a tenth to 1.4 in week three) and Elementary (1.1).

• NBC had its own positive newbie result as Shades of Blue (1.4) recouped a tick after last week's big drop. Earlier in the night, the finale of Heroes Reborn (1.0) saw no bounce (perhaps hurt by the CW competition), while The Blacklist (1.5) inched down.

• The unscripted offerings were steady as American Idol (2.4) won the night again for Fox and ABC dropped into fifth place with Beyond the Tank (1.0) and My Diet is Better Than Yours (0.7/0.6). 

First Two Weeks, Angel from Hell

Reminder: the game for Shades of Blue is still open until 6am ET tomorrow!

WEEK ONE
Rating: 1.6
Lead-in: Mom (1.8)
Competition: My Diet is Better Than Yours (0.7), The Blacklist (1.6), American Idol (2.7), The Originals (R) (0.2)

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 1/14/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The Big Bang Theory (3.8) and The Blacklist (1.6) ticked up.
• USA's Colony opened with a very middling 0.44 rating. This was about on par with USA's summer launches of Mr. Robot (0.46) and Complications (0.41), and behind the Dig opener from a year ago (0.56).
• The Republican debate averaged a 1.85 in the demo with just over 11 million total viewers.

• Week two brought a disappointing drop for NBC's Shades of Blue (1.3), shedding a half-point (or over 25%) of last week's solid premiere. This exhausts a lot of the show's considerable premiere cushion, and it'll have to hold up pretty well from here just to stay on the bubbly tier with The Mysteries of Laura. Shades' lead-in The Blacklist (1.5) was down a tenth in its second episode of 2016, while the penultimate Heroes Reborn (1.0) was even.

• CBS' own week two newbie Angel from Hell also hit a 1.3. This is a more reasonable week-to-week drop from last week's 1.6 premiere, but that premiere was modest enough that this isn't exactly good news. It now seems pretty clearly weaker than most of the other middling CBS comedies. CBS had a slew of small drops elsewhere with The Big Bang Theory (3.7), Life in Pieces (2.0), Mom (1.7) and Elementary (1.1).

• It was a tough night for most of the unscripted options, too. Fox's American Idol (2.2) won another night in broadcast primetime but was down a half-point from last week (though just another low-teens decline year-to-year). ABC's Beyond the Tank held at 1.0, but My Diet is Better Than Yours (0.6) dropped a tenth from last week's already awful premiere. And The World Dog Awards on the CW (0.3) were down noticeably from last year's 0.5.

• These broadcast declines have at least some excuse as another big GOP debate aired on Fox Business. Household overnights suggest it was the lowest-rated debate yet this cycle (and about 15% below the previous FBN debate), but it still probably broke 10 million viewers. More after finals!

SpotVault - Angel from Hell (CBS) - 2015-16 Ratings

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 1/7/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Life in Pieces (2.1) adjusted down.

• NBC continued its stout opening to 2016 with a nice sampling for the new Jennifer Lopez drama Shades of Blue (1.8), not far from where Heroes Reborn opened the fall (2.0) and growing from The Blacklist (1.6) lead-in on premiere night. Blacklist itself also did pretty well, upticking to its best rating since the season premiere. However, NBC had another low-end performance in the 8/7c hour as Heroes Reborn (1.0) did not return well.

• CBS also had a scripted series premiere in the Jane Lynch sitcom Angel from Hell (1.6), which dropped a bit from its Mom (1.8) lead-in on opening night and was close to the fall 2014 premiere of failed The McCarthys (1.7). It'd be a fine showing for Angel on a normal night, but for a series premiere it's pretty blah; it will not want to separate from Mom much more than this.
• Mom (1.8) and Life in Pieces (2.2) each tied their best Thursday performances of the season, while Elementary (1.2) hit a season high even as The Big Bang Theory (3.8) didn't get any real early January upswing.

• Fox's American Idol (2.7) delivered another strong two hours to round out its premiere week, though it was not quite as sensational as the Wednesday premiere. (This ep was down just a bit more than league average from last year's 3.1 Thursday opener.)

• And ABC began its tough road through the TGIT hiatus with a not-awful showing from Beyond the Tank (1.0) at 8/7c but very little interest in the newbie My Diet is Better Than Yours (0.7).

• CW had still more repeats with The Vampire Diaries (0.2) and The Originals (0.2).

Best Case/Worst Case: My Diet Is Better Than Yours, Angel From Hell, Shades of Blue

Best Case/Worst Case lays out possible scenarios for broadcast primetime TV seasons yet to premiere. Here's what's premiering tonight!