WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: Spartan: Ultimate Team Challenge (1.0) and Bones (0.9) adjusted up while Life in Pieces (R) (1.1) and Aquarius (0.4) adjusted down. The ABC town hall was not counted in finals but its prelim is included here for True formula purposes.
- On ABC, BattleBots took a week off in favor of an ABC News town hall (1.0) with President Obama on violence and race relations. It was a narrow improvement on last week's BattleBots (0.9) and had no noticeable effect on Greatest Hits (0.9) and the 10/9c repeat of Match Game (0.8)
- The CBS repeats of The Big Bang Theory (1.5), Life in Pieces (1.2) and Code Black (0.8) were all up a tenth, surrounding a steady Big Brother (1.9). Big Bro is one adjustment away from its first 2.0 of the season.
- Fox's Bones (0.8) was back from a couple weeks off and preliminarily down a tenth, while Home Free had yet another 0.5.
- NBC had another two hours of Spartan: Ultimate Team Challenge (0.8 for the 8/7c repeat, 0.9 for the 9/8c original), while Aquarius (0.5) hopes to hold onto its new! season! high! after adjusting down in finals last week.
- And the CW had a seventh consecutive pair of 0.2's from Legends of Tomorrow (R) and Beauty and the Beast.
WHAT MATTERS:
- A positive summer for ABC continued with decent sampling for the premiere of music performance series Greatest Hits (1.1) at 9/8c. Like with the Tuesday lineup, the key here is to compare it with what ABC was doing on the night last year: which was way below 1.0 with a tri-drama lineup. It was surrounded by BattleBots (0.9), down a tenth from last week's premiere (but even with the first hour of the premiere), and a solid second run of the Match Game premiere (0.9) at 10/9c.
- On CBS, Big Brother's strong second week continued (1.8) as it was up at least a tenth from last week's Thursday opener, and matched the year-ago evening for the second straight night. Leading in were repeats of The Big Bang Theory (1.4) and Life in Pieces (1.1), while Code Black had a 0.7 at 10/9c.
- Unlike The Night Shift, NBC's Spartan: Ultimate Team Challenge (1.0) seemed to get a tangible boost from a US Olympic Trials lead-in (1.2), bouncing back somewhat from the massive drop in its first Thursday airing. But the momentum definitely did not continue to Aquarius (0.4) at 10/9c.
- Fox's Home Free had another 0.5, this time leading out of a repeat of Bones (0.5). And the CW served up some more 0.2's with Legends of Tomorrow (R) and Beauty and the Beast.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: The NBA Finals just barely eked out a new series high with a 7.7 rating. Aquarius was not counted in finals so the fast nats will be used here.
- Game 6 of the NBA Finals had series-high preliminaries in both the 9:00 (5.9) and 10:00 (6.7) hours and figures to adjust into the general vicinity of 8.0 after finals. That'll trail last year's Game 6 (8.9), which was a series ender. But the result does mean ABC gets the good fortune of a Game 7 ratings bounty, coming on Sunday.
- It was not a good night for the original programming that tried to compete with the Finals, starting with the tiny-rated return of drama Aquarius (0.5/0.4) on NBC. This is at the low end of its Thursday performances last summer, and less than half of the 1.1 at which it started season one. At least it rallied from the 0.2's it was getting on Saturdays...? Aquarius also notably lost more than half its lead-in from Dateline (1.0).
- The return of Fox's reality series Home Free (0.6) was arguably an even bigger debacle, since it was actually doing OK the last time we saw it. After ending season one on a 1.0 and 1.1, it was mired at American Grit levels for this premiere. But it had little help from lead-in Bones (0.7), which itself collapsed to a new low.
- CBS' repeats were easily the strongest alternative to the Finals, as the comedies (1.4/1.1/1.0/0.9) were up from last week while Code Black (0.7) was even. The CW had more 0.2's with Legends of Tomorrow (R) and Beauty and the Beast.
WHAT MATTERS:
- Both of the usual Sunday leaders were down a bit in the prelims, keeping the penultimate Celebrity Family Feud (2.0) a little ahead of Big Brother (1.8). BattleBots (1.3) preliminarily got back a tenth for ABC at 9/8c, while the network's latest medical documentary series Save My Life: Boston Trauma (0.8) debuted at 10/9c. These numbers were similar to what NY Med had on Thursday last season.
- NBC had a horrible pair of 0.3's for the one-hour return of Swedish import Welcome to Sweden at 8/7c. It ended last season on a similar 0.4/0.3 but had been at 0.7ish prior to that. This was much lower than the surrounding repeats of Hollywood Game Night (0.5) and American Ninja Warrior (0.8).
- Might Sweden soon join the Thursday dramas on Saturday? Those shows made their Saturday debut this weekend, with Aquarius (0.3) taking the expected hit but Hannibal (0.4) pulling off a minor miracle by retaining its usual 0.4. (It's only a minor miracle since it's still just a 0.4...)
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: Under the Dome (1.1) joined the up-week-to-week club by adjusting up in finals, while Food Fighters went up to a somewhat respectable 0.9.
- Thursday saw another set of rebounds from last week's viewing-depressed numbers. Thursday leader Big Brother (1.9), ABC's The Astronaut Wives Club (0.8) and Mistresses (0.8), and NBC's Food Fighters (0.8) and Aquarius (0.5) all had minor growth from last week's lows.
- Not so lucky were the three 10/9c dramas, as Under the Dome (1.0), Rookie Blue (0.7) and Hannibal (0.4) were all even with last week. Fox's Boom! (0.7) and Wayward Pines (1.0) were also unable to bounce back.
- The CW offered up the first two episodes of British import Dates, which matched Beauty and the Beast's 0.2 at 9/8c before dropping to a measly 0.1 at 9:30. Last year's similar-rated cheap comedies Backpackers and Seed lasted just two weeks, though the network may not be as quick with the hook this time since there are only nine episodes/five weeks.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS: Rookie Blue (0.7) adjusted up to top the previous week's premiere.
- On CBS, Under the Dome returned to a 1.3 for two hours last week,
just barely dodging its series low from late last season. But it's
found new low territory this week with a 1.0. Meanwhile, Big Brother remains a year-to-year winner in the early weeks, with a modest drop for the 2.1 Thursday premiere and its 1.8 last night up from last year's 1.6 on the second Thursday. (Though airing on July 2 this year is probably a little more favorable than July 3 last year, since it's farther from the holiday.)
- ABC's new all-scripted Thursday lineup premiered about as well as could've been reasonably expected, with The Astronaut Wives Club kicking off at a passable 1.1 and veteran Mistresses at 0.9 a couple weeks ago. But it's become more problematic since then, especially with Rookie Blue joining the mix at an ugly 0.6 last week (down nearly 50% year-to-year). Meanwhile, Astro Wives plummeted to 0.8 last week and 0.7 this week. And Mistresses was down to a new low 0.7 last week and again to 0.6 this week.
- NBC added sophomore reality series Food Fighters (0.7) to its struggling scripted mix last night. This is a long way from its very low 1's last season airing on Tuesdays before America's Got Talent and a significant downgrade on recent Dateline ratings in the hour. In the last three weeks, renewed Aquarius (0.7/0.6/0.4) and cancelled Hannibal (0.5/0.4/0.4) have continued to move downward.
- The scripted winner on Thursday remains Fox's Wayward Pines, resilient at 1.2 last week and still at 1.0 on a likely lower-viewed night this week. Its new game show lead-in Boom! (0.9/0.7) has not done much.
- And the CW saw Beauty and the Beast inch down to 0.2 last week and stay there this week. It'll be joined by imported British comedy Dates starting next Thursday.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: Game 4 of the NBA Finals adjusted up to a series high 7.6, a scorching 27% ahead of Game 4 last season. Bones (1.2) and CBS' sitcoms also adjusted up.
- On another Thursday dominated by the NBA Finals, Fox's dramas again shone brightest among the scripted originals. Wayward Pines (1.2) ticked back up to tie its high point, while the Bones finale (1.1) was even with last week.
- NBC's Aquarius (0.8) mercifully got back a tenth back after last week's collapse, but Hannibal (0.5) made up for it by descending into truly ugly territory.
- And the CW opened season three of the now summer drama fixture Beauty and the Beast with the same 0.3 it hit for 20 out of 22 episodes last season. Leading out was an iHeartRadio Pool Party special (0.3), even with last year.
- ABC's NBA Finals had a preliminary 6.3 A18-49 from 9:00 to 11:00, which was about 10% better than the same prelim period on Tuesday and last Thursday. Though there was no late-game drama this time, it could adjust up to a series high.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: Game 1 of the NBA Finals adjusted up to 17.77 million viewers and a 6.9 demo, up 15% vs. last year's opener and tying the 2012 opener as the biggest Game 1 rating since 2004. ABC's two pregame programs (1.1/2.0) were each even with the year-ago openers. Nothing in the original entertainment realm adjusted, though a few CBS repeats went up.
- The early indicators suggest a sensational start for ABC's NBA Finals, which had the highest household rating for a Game 1 since 2002. The two-hour preliminary A18-49 average was 5.6, up about 10% from last year's 5.1 (which later adjusted up to 6.0). This one should adjust up significantly since the game went into overtime after primetime on the East Coast.
- The Finals were not good to NBC's scripted lineup, as Aquarius (0.7) dove by about a third from last week's 1.1 two-hour premiere. The 10/9c return of Hannibal (0.7) tied its series low and was a similarly rough amount below last season's 1.1 opener.
- Fox's Bones (1.1) and Wayward Pines (1.1) and the CBS repeats (led by The Big Bang Theory (1.4)) held up more reasonably against the ABC onslaught.
Aquarius
Thursdays, 9/8c, NBC
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: Aquarius (1.1) and The Big Bang Theory (R) (1.5) adjusted up.
- NBC's summer drama Aquarius kicked off with 5.7 million viewers and a 1.0 demo rating. This is not awful by summer standards, and the '60s-set drama didn't skew that much older than its Dateline lead-in (6.4 million viewers and a 1.2). However, the half-hour breakdowns don't bode well for the future, as it went 1.3 -> 1.0 -> 1.0 -> 0.9 over the four 30-minute segments. Also, NBA Finals competition looms next week, and there's the fact that anyone who's truly interested can watch future episodes online now.
- On Fox, Wayward Pines (1.2) held onto its week-two spike and beat Aquarius head-to-head, getting an assist from the return of Bones (1.2) for a run of summer originals. Bones had its best rating since the first spring episode, perhaps benefiting from lightweight competition.
- Two more hours of 500 Questions wrapped up the season in typical fashion, averaging a 1.0 in the 8:00 hour and 1.1 at 9:00. CBS' repeat of The Big Bang Theory (1.4) was Thursday's top program but dropped a couple tenths from last week.
NBC begins the scripted portion of its summer season with tonight's two-hour premiere of
Aquarius, a David Duchovny drama about the Charles Manson saga in the 1960s. The show has gotten some industry attention because of NBC's decision to mimic the streaming service model by releasing the entire season online. But this won't happen until after tonight's premiere, so it shouldn't be a negative for tonight. The whole thing was probably just a play for attention, but one that the casual viewer is unlikely to notice.
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