The Breakdown: Fox Tuesday in 2016-17 (New Girl, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Mick and more!)

It's time for a journey through the Fox Tuesday schedule in 2016-17...

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 3/28/17

FINALS UPDATE: American Housewife (R) (0.8) and The Flash (0.9) adjusted up while Legends of Tomorrow (0.5) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• A 12-season run finally came to an end on Tuesday, as Fox's crime drama Bones (1.0) exited the stage with a new season high and its first trip into the ones since December 2015. The rare bit of positive mojo for Fox even seemed to spill into the 8/7c hour a bit, as New Girl (0.9) and The Mick (0.9) were both up.

• On NBC, it was a rough second week in the 9/8c hour for Trial and Error (1.0/0.8): down two tenths from last week at 9:00 and three tenths at 9:30. Its lead-in from The Voice (2.1) was down two tenths from last week, while Chicago Fire (1.4) was down just one.

• Despite a little added Fox competition, CBS looked pretty normal with its fully-renewed trio of NCIS (1.6), Bull (1.3) and NCIS: New Orleans (1.1). The mothership ticked up from its new series low two weeks ago.

• ABC had more comedy repeats (0.8/0.7/0.8/0.7) leading into the finale of People Icons (0.5), which couldn't make it three weeks in a row of growth and instead fell back to the series premiere number.

• And the CW's The Flash (0.8) is eyeing a new series low but may have a shot at an uptick in finals. Despite that downswing, Legends of Tomorrow preliminarily held onto last week's 0.6.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 3/21/17

FINALS UPDATE: Black-ish (R) (0.8), The Voice (2.3) and The Flash (1.0) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• On NBC's first Tuesday without This Is Us, the network took a major step down at 9/8c with new comedy Trial and Error (1.2/1.1). The good news for T&E is that this was basically in line with the 1.4/1.0 it pulled in the 10/9c hour after This Is Us last week. Both The Voice (2.2) and Chicago Fire (1.5) were on the downswing without This Is Us in the middle.

• Fox had its regular lineup of New Girl (0.8), The Mick (0.8) and Bones (0.8). It was a new low for The Mick, which was in repeats last week when New Girl fell to its first 0.8 of the season. Meanwhile, Bones was on the uptick in its penultimate episode.

• On the CW, The Flash (0.9) had a musical crossover with Supergirl, but it was actually Legends of Tomorrow (0.6) that was on the upswing week-to-week.

• And it was repeat mode for CBS (0.9/0.8/0.7) as well as ABC's comedies (0.9/0.8/0.8/0.7). The networks' only original was the third episode of People Icons (0.7), which grew for the second week in a row.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 3/14/17

FINALS UPDATE: The Middle (1.6) and This Is Us (3.4) adjusted up while Trial and Error (1.4) and Trial and Error (1.0) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC megahit This Is Us went out on an absolutely triumphant note, exploding to a new series high 3.4. But the show that will be inheriting its timeslot, comedy Trial and Error, had a rough two-episode start (1.4/1.0) in the 10:00 hour.

• The arrival of DST was unkind to 8:00 anchors NCIS (1.5) and New Girl (0.8), with the CBS procedural posting its second new series low in the last three episodes. But ABC's comedies noticeably bucked the trend, with The Middle (1.6) actually scrounging out an uptick.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 3/7/17

FINALS UPDATE: The Middle (1.5) and This Is Us (3.0) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• The Voice (2.6) and This Is Us (2.9) were back together again for the first time in 2017, and it helped the huge drama to a major upswing, landing just shy of its series high. However, it wasn't all rosy for NBC as Chicago Justice (1.3) had a fairly modest outing in another out-of-timeslot effort at sampling in the 10/9c hour. That's at least a couple tenths below what Chicago Fire usually does in the slot.

• ABC's comedies The Middle (1.4) and American Housewife (1.4) were both on the low end in their first 2017 outings against The Voice, while Fresh Off the Boat (1.1) and The Real O'Neals (0.9) looked pretty normal. The alphabet found something even lower than Agents of SHIELD with the premiere of four-week newsmagazine series People Icons (0.5) at 10/9c.

• On the CW, The Flash (0.9) and Legends of Tomorrow (0.5) each took a hit, with the latter actually dipping to a new series low.

• CBS dramas NCIS (1.6), Bull (1.3) and NCIS: New Orleans (1.1) were all even with their last originals two weeks ago.

• The night's only repeats were Fox's New Girl (0.5) and The Mick (0.5), but Bones (0.7) stayed original.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 2/21/17

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC's last Tuesday without The Voice saw The Wall go out with a 1.4 rating, leading into one-tenth upticks for This Is Us (2.5) and Chicago Fire (1.6).

• On CBS, NCIS (1.6) and NCIS: New Orleans (1.1) were both down after last week's crossover, with the mothership (preliminarily) hitting a new low. They surrounded Bull, which posted its fourth straight 1.3.

• ABC's American Housewife (1.4) ticked down, but the 9/8c comedies Fresh Off the Boat (1.1) and The Real O'Neals (0.9) each inched up from last week's Valentine's Day lows. Agents of SHIELD headed into hiatus with its fifth 0.6 in the last six episodes.

• Fox saw an uptick for New Girl (1.0), but The Mick (0.9) will need some finals help to avoid a new low, and Bones (0.7) was down as well.

• And the CW's The Flash (1.0) and Legends of Tomorrow (0.6) were back from a week off and both shed a tenth in the prelims.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 2/14/17

FINALS UPDATE: American Housewife (1.5) adjusted up while Agents of SHIELD (0.6) and Tough Mudder: The Challenge Within (0.2) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Valentine's Day and presumed lower viewing levels brought several small drops to broadcast, but nothing too alarming. ABC's Fresh Off the Boat (1.0) probably had the worst drop, down by two tenths to a new season low, while surrounding comedies The Middle (1.5), American Housewife (1.4) and The Real O'Neals (0.8) were all down one, and Agents of SHIELD held at 0.7 at 10/9c.

• CBS tried to charge up Tuesday with a crossover between NCIS (1.8) and NCIS: New Orleans (1.2). NO was indeed up two tenths from last week, but that still only got it back to its usual number from the fall. They sandwiched Bull, which stayed frozen at 1.3.

• NBC had small drops from The Wall (1.4) and This Is Us (2.4), but Chicago Fire (1.5) was steady at 10/9c.

• On Fox, New Girl (0.9) was down a tenth, The Mick (1.0) even, and Bones (0.8) up a tenth.

• And the CW used Valentine's Day to sample one of its digital properties, the unscripted show Tough Mudder (0.3), on a bigger stage. It led into a repeat of The Flash (0.2) at 9/8c.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 2/7/17

FINALS UPDATE: The Middle (1.6) and The Wall (1.5) and This Is Us (2.6) and New Girl (1.0) and The Mick (1.0) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• All the original lineups were back in play on Tuesday, and most lineups were on the soft side compared to their January norms. NBC dominated again, despite drops from The Wall (1.4), This Is Us (2.5) and Chicago Fire (1.5).

• After two weeks off, ABC was back to original comedies, and The Middle (1.5) came down from its string of 1.7's in January. American Housewife (1.5) and Fresh Off the Boat (1.2) both matched three weeks ago, while The Real O'Neals (0.9) and Agents of SHIELD (0.7) ticked up at least in the prelims.

• On CBS, NCIS was also a little softer, while Bull (1.3) and NCIS: New Orleans (1.0) could not recover from their rough outings two weeks ago.

• Fox went total fractional with New Girl (0.9) leading into new season lows from The Mick (0.9) and Bones (0.7).

• And the CW stayed steady with The Flash (1.1) and Legends of Tomorrow (0.7).

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 1/31/17

FINALS UPDATE: The Wall (1.5) and This Is Us (R) (1.0) adjusted up while Fresh Off the Boat (R) (0.7) and The Real O'Neals (R) (0.5) and Bones (0.8) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• President Trump made his first Supreme Court justice nomination on all four big four networks, occupying the first 17 minutes of primetime. That makes numbers in the 8:00 half-hour unreliable.

• Fortunately for the broadcasters, it was going to be a really slow night anyway, and after some rearranging all four nets were able to join a repeat in progress after the address. NBC moved its original episode of The Wall (1.4) into the 9:00 hour, with a repeat Wall at 8:00 (1.2) and a repeat of This Is Us (0.9) at 10:00.

• Fox, always slated to have a repeat of New Girl (0.6) at 8:00, then went with original episodes of The Mick (upticking to 1.1) and Bones (0.9) as previously scheduled.

• ABC's only original was Agents of SHIELD (0.6), again leading out of a foursome of comedy repeats (0.9/0.8/0.8/0.6). And CBS had a very low showing from its annual Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials (0.9) special, which was down over 50% after years of hovering around 2.0! It was surrounded by repeats of comedies (1.0/0.7) and Bull (0.6).

• And the CW finally got some good news in 2017, getting an uptick for both halves of The Flash (1.1) and Legends of Tomorrow (0.7) combo.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 1/24/17

FINALS UPDATE: Chicago Fire (1.8) adjusted up while Agents of SHIELD (0.6) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• It was another dominant night for NBC's drama duo of This Is Us (2.8) and Chicago Fire (1.7), which were both on the upswing to tie their second-biggest ratings of the season. After weeks at 1.7, The Wall (1.6) finally inched down at 8/7c.

• The CW had a rather soft return night from The Flash (0.9), opening the winter with (at least preliminarily) its first fractional result ever. It led into a new timeslot for Legends of Tomorrow (0.6), which came back at the low end of its fall results despite the seemingly compatible lead-in.

• On CBS, NCIS held strong at 1.9, but it was a weirdly rough night for Bull (1.3) and NCIS: New Orleans (1.1), which both fell to new lows.

• Fox's comedy hour of New Girl (0.9) and The Mick (1.0) also inched down again, though Bones (0.9) got a tenth back at 9/8c.

• And the ABC comedies went into repeats (1.0/0.9/0.8/0.6), while Agents of SHIELD preliminarily edged back up to 0.7 after last week's big drop.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 1/17/17

FINALS UPDATE: Fresh Off the Boat (1.2) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• ABC's Tuesday lineup was back with all three hours for the first time in 2017, and it was a mixed night at best. The Middle (1.7) and American Housewife (1.5) continued to do their things, but Fresh Off the Boat (1.1) and The Real O'Neals (0.8) came back at the low end of their fall ratings, while Agents of SHIELD (0.6) plummeted all the way to a new low.

• On NBC, This Is Us (2.6) settled back into its usual 9/8c slot with a pretty typical rating (down four tenths from last week's 10/9c return), and Chicago Fire (1.6) was also normal at 10/9c. The Wall led off with its third straight 1.7, remaining a truly exceptional option to take NBC through The Voice's hiatus.

• CBS had an upticking NCIS (1.9) leading into even Bull (1.5) and NCIS: New Orleans (1.2).

• And on Fox, New Girl (1.0), The Mick (1.1) and Bones (0.8) were all down a tenth from last Tuesday.

• The CW finally wrapped up one of its fall newbie burn-offs, with No Tomorrow (0.2) leading out of one last repeat of The Flash (0.3).

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 1/10/17

FINALS UPDATE: This Is Us (3.0) and The Mick (1.2) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Tuesday's ratings are complicated by the big four's coverage of President Obama's farewell address, which covered most of the 9:00 hour in the Eastern time zone. In the prelims, NBC (2.5) had easily the highest big four ratings in the hour, beating ABC (1.3) and CBS (1.1) and Fox (0.9).

• Surrounding NBC's high-rated coverage were The Wall (1.7) at 8:00 and the return of This Is Us (2.6), bumped to a 10:00 scheduled start time but beginning right at that time for the East Coast.

• Fox's The Mick (1.1) took a dip at 8:30, leading out of New Girl (1.1) at 8/7c. After the speech, Bones (1.0) at least preliminarily edged up from last week's premiere, despite a highly irregular 9:55 start time.

• On ABC were The Middle (1.7) and American Housewife (1.5), preliminarily close to last week's ratings in the 8:00 hour, and the return of Agents of SHIELD (0.8) at 10/9c.

• CBS went into repeat mode, with NCIS (1.1) at 8/7c leading into repeats of The Big Bang Theory and NCIS: New Orleans after the speech. And the CW had yet another The Flash repeat (0.3) leading into the penultimate original of No Tomorrow (0.2).

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 1/3/17

WHAT MATTERS: 

• Numbers and analysis coming shortly. Fox featured the timeslot premiere of The Mick and the final season premiere of Bones, while NBC had the Tuesday 8/7c debut of The Wall and a two-hour Chicago series crossover. ABC's comedies and the CBS dramas also returned to originals.

SpotVault - Bones (Fox) - 2017 Ratings

Bones

Tuesdays, 9/8c, Fox

Best Case/Worst Case: The Mick, Ransom, The Wall and more!

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

The Breakdown: Fox Thursday in 2015-16 (Bones, Sleepy Hollow, American Idol, American Grit)

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

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 7/21/16

FINALS UPDATE: ABC Republican National Convention (0.8) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• On the last night of the Republican National Convention, it looks like the big speech from nominee Donald Trump attracted some additional interest on ABC (0.7) and CBS (0.7), while NBC (1.1) was flat despite a much lower lead-in from the two-hour finale of Spartan: Ultimate Team Challenge (0.9). However, Trump's speech ran way out of primetime on the East Coast (and way into primetime on the West Coast), so that could complicate things in the finals.

• At least in the prelims, it was a down night for almost everything entertainment; ABC's BattleBots (0.7) and Greatest Hits (0.7) each fell to new lows, CBS' Big Brother (1.7) and repeat of The Big Bang Theory (1.3) were also down, and so was Fox's duo of the Bones (0.8) season finale and Home Free (0.4). But again, these may be subject to some abnormal adjustments.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 7/14/16

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.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 6/30/16

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.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 6/23/16