The Breakdown: CBS Wednesday in 2016-17 (Survivor, Criminal Minds, Code Black and more!)

It's time for a journey through the CBS Wednesday schedule in 2016-17...

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 5/17/17

FINALS UPDATE: Blindspot (0.9) and Empire (2.2) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• ABC got the summer off to an early start with a special preview of comedy Downward Dog (1.1) at 9:30, where it opened just below Black-ish's lowest rating of the season. But ABC had some positive news with the surrounding season finales, as The Goldbergs (1.4), Speechless (1.2), Modern Family (1.7) and Designated Survivor (1.1) were all up a tenth from last week.

• On CBS, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (0.7/0.7) double-pumped the final two episodes of its run, leading out of ever-steady Survivor (1.7) at 8/7c.

• NBC was even with Blindspot (0.8) and the Chicago PD (1.3) finale surrounding an upticking Law and Order: SVU (1.2), which will be back with a two-hour finale next Wednesday.

• Fox was also close to steady with another Shots Fired (0.8) and Empire (2.1) combo.

• And Arrow (0.5) gave back last week's uptick, leading into a seventh straight 0.3 from The 100.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 5/10/17

FINALS UPDATE: Speechless (1.1), Modern Family (1.6), Criminal Minds (1.6), Chicago PD (1.3) and Empire (2.2) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• It was one oddly mixed Wednesday night for ABC as Black-ish wrapped up its season, with Black-ish (1.3) and Designated Survivor (1.0) both up from last week. But the first half of the night was brutal, with The Goldbergs (1.3) inching down to a preliminary new low while Speechless (1.0) and recently-renewed Modern Family (1.5) were down two more tenths from already soft results last week.

• On CBS, the late-season strength from Criminal Minds (1.5) continued into its finale, but surrounding programs Survivor (1.7) and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (0.8) both shed a tenth in the prelims.

• Fox had a sigh of relief with Empire (2.1), which recovered to its two-weeks-ago rating following last week's low. Shots Fired made it four in a row at 0.8.

• NBC's Blindspot hung onto those 0.9's just long enough to get renewed, and this week was down to 0.8 for the first time since DST. Law and Order: SVU (1.1) made up for it with an uptick, while Chicago PD stayed at 1.2.

• And Arrow is preliminarily eyeing an uptick to 0.6 for the first time since early March. The 100 was at 0.3 yet again.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 5/3/17

FINALS UPDATE: Modern Family (1.7), Criminal Minds (1.5), Chicago PD (1.2) and Empire (1.9) adjusted up while The 100 (0.3) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• After nearly a month off, Modern Family (1.6) was back at a painful new low, and it was no help to the shows around it either. The Goldbergs (1.4) and Speechless (1.2) matched last week, while Black-ish (1.2) was down from last week's 9:30 episode. And Designated Survivor (0.9) returned to fractional territory after recovering in the last two weeks.

• Fox's late-season Empire struggles continued, as the show crashed again to a new low 1.8. Its lead-in Shots Fired hung at 0.8.

• Amid a mostly down night, CBS was an exception once again. Survivor (1.8), Criminal Minds (1.4) and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (0.9) were all on the upswing. Minds had its best number since January while the other two tied season highs.

• NBC's Law and Order: SVU (1.0) and Chicago PD (1.1) were both down a notch to new season lows, but Blindspot held up yet again at 0.9.

• And after hitting a strong prelim 0.3 last week, this time The 100 eked out a preliminary 0.4. It followed another 0.5 from Arrow.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 4/26/17

FINALS UPDATE: Black-ish (1.3), Survivor (1.8) and Criminal Minds (1.3) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• On the eve of May Sweeps, almost every Wednesday regular was back in original action. The one exception was Modern Family, so ABC went with a full hour of original Black-ish (1.2/1.2) at 9/8c. The series tied its lowest rating of the season, set back in early December on another night when there was no Modern Family original. 8/7c comedies The Goldbergs (1.4) and Speechless (1.2) each fell as well, hitting new season lows in the prelims. Designated Survivor (1.1) managed an uptick with a return to an original lead-in.

• NBC was back from another long hiatus, with the improvement continuing for Blindspot as it hung at its 0.9 from late March. Law and Order: SVU (1.1) and Chicago PD (1.2) tied their season lows and were down a tenth from their last episodes pre-hiatus.

• On Fox, Shots Fired stayed at the 0.8 it posted last week on an Empire repeat night, while Empire (2.1) was back at another new season low.

• CBS' Survivor was ever-resilient at 1.7, leading into a low-end 1.2 from Criminal Minds and another 0.8 as Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders reunited with its mothership lead-in.

• And the CW's Arrow and The 100 returned with their usual 0.5/0.3.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 4/19/17

FINALS UPDATE: Modern Family (R) (1.0) adjusted up while Law and Order: SVU (R) (0.7), Arrow (R) (0.1), Whose Line Is It Anyway? (R) (0.1) and Whose Line Is It Anyway? (R) (0.2) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Most of the Wednesday regulars snuck in one last repeat/pre-emption before returning to originals next week. That left a two-hour edition of Survivor (1.7) almost alone to dominate the night. It led into Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (0.8) at 10/9c.

• ABC had another quartet of comedy repeats (1.0/0.9/0.9/0.8) leading into original Designated Survivor (1.0), and Designated preliminarily got a tenth back after last week's big slide.

• Fox got to take a look at Shots Fired (0.8) without pre-tune assistance, since Empire (0.8) was also a repeat. It was down a tenth.

• NBC (0.8/0.9/0.8) and CW (0.3/0.3/0.3) went total repeat mode.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 4/12/17

FINALS UPDATE: The Goldbergs (R) (0.8), Speechless (R) (0.8), Modern Family (R) (0.9), Black-ish (R) (0.8) and Designated Survivor (0.9) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Fox was the only network airing its regular original lineup in its entirety, and Empire (2.3) was able to stop the bleeding in its fourth airing of the spring. However, its lead-in Shots Fired ticked down to 0.9.

• With Criminal Minds off for the next two weeks, spin-off Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders filled in with a double-dip (0.9/0.8), and did a little better leading out of one hour of Survivor (1.7). Next week it will be Survivor that airs two hours.

• Across the other three networks, only Designated Survivor (1.1) was original, leading out of repeat comedies (0.9/0.9/1.0/1.0). NBC (0.8/0.8/0.8) and the CW (0.2/0.2/0.2) were all repeats.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 4/5/17

FINALS UPDATE: The Goldbergs (1.6), Speechless (1.4), Modern Family (1.9), Criminal Minds (1.3), Law and Order: SVU (1.2) and Shots Fired (1.0) adjusted up while Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (0.7), Arrow (R) (0.2), Whose Line Is It Anyway? (R) (0.2) and Whose Line Is It Anyway? (R) (0.2) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Week three of Fox's latest Wednesday lineup saw a pair of small drops from Shots Fired (0.9) and Empire (2.2).

• After a strong showing last Wednesday alongside the Imaginary Mary premiere, comedies The Goldbergs (1.5), Modern Family (1.8) and Black-ish (1.3) all tumbled by multiple tenths. Goldbergs tied its season low while Modern Family hit a new one, and Black-ish had its lowest point of the season with an original lead-in. Speechless returned to the 8:30 slot matching its last original three weeks ago at 1.3. Designated Survivor also hung on with a 1.1 at 10/9c.

• One of the few stories of Wednesday resilience remained Blindspot (0.9), which has looked like a stronger show since its last return from hiatus. At 10/9c, Chicago PD (1.3) was also a success story for NBC, upticking from its last two weeks, while lead-in Law and Order: SVU stayed at 1.1.

• CBS' Survivor (1.7) and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (0.8) gave back upticks from last week, while the Criminal Minds mothership stayed at last week's low-end 1.2.

• The CW was in repeat mode with Arrow (0.3) and Whose Line Is It Anyway? (0.3/0.3).

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 3/29/17

FINALS UPDATE: Modern Family (2.1), Survivor (1.8) and Chicago PD (1.2) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• ABC previewed its new Tuesday sitcom Imaginary Mary (1.4) in a special Wednesday 8:30 edition. It was up a tick from what Speechless did here two weeks ago, but maybe a bit weaker than what Speechless would've done considering it was a positive night for lead-in The Goldbergs (1.7) as well as lead-out Modern Family (2.0). Later in the night, both Black-ish (1.5) and Designated Survivor (1.1) were even with their last episodes.

• On Fox, Shots Fired (1.0) lost just a tenth in its second week, even as Empire (2.4) fell pretty hard to a new series low in its second episode of the spring.

• NBC's Blindspot (0.9) continued to show a little life in the spring, holding onto last week's uptick on another low night for Law and Order: SVU (1.1) and Chicago PD (1.1).

• CBS' Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (0.9) also tried to make its case, bouncing back from last week's low even as Criminal Minds (1.2) was down. Survivor hit its fourth straight 1.7 to open the spring.

• And Arrow headed into its last hiatus of the season with another 0.5, while The 100 stuck at 0.3.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 3/22/17

FINALS UPDATE: Law and Order: SVU (1.2) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Fox's brightest bulb Empire (2.8) was finally back for the spring, and up a tick from the 8/7c fall finale. However, that left it about 40% behind the 4.8 for the year-ago spring premiere. It had little help from its new lead-in, the new drama Shots Fired (1.1), which opened below Lethal Weapon's lowest rating of the season.

• NBC's Blindspot (0.9) and Law and Order: SVU (1.1) were back for the first time in four weeks. Blindspot tried to keep itself in the NBC picture by upticking from its last couple episodes of the winter, even on a night when SVU and Chicago PD (1.2) were each tying their series lows.

• ABC had a night of repeat comedies (1.0/1.0/1.1/0.8) leading into Designated Survivor (1.1), which finally came back to earth a bit in a tougher situation than its first two eps of the spring.

• On CBS, Survivor (1.7) and Criminal Minds (1.3) were steady while Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (0.8) inched down.

• And the CW was even with Arrow (0.5) and The 100 (0.3).

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 3/15/17

FINALS UPDATE: The Voice (R) (1.6) adjusted up while The 100 (0.3) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Though the Tuesday comedies withstood the arrival of DST well, there was no such luck for ABC's The Goldbergs (1.5) and Speechless (1.3), with each comedy crashing by two tenths. But ABC had much better news later in the night as Designated Survivor (1.3) held steady in its second episode of the spring. More difficult conditions are ahead, especially next week with the return of Chicago PD and a comedy repeat lead-in, but it has been an impressive return thus far.

• Elsewhere, it was a positive finale night on Fox with Lethal Weapon (1.3) and Star (1.3) each up a tenth. On CBS, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (0.9) kept itself in the mix by holding steady while the mothership (1.3) returned at 9/8c. NBC had a two-hour The Voice recap (1.6) while the CW's Arrow (0.5) and The 100 (0.3) were both on the downswing.

SpotVault - Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (CBS) - Spring 2017 Ratings

Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders

Wednesdays, 10/9c, CBS

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 3/8/17

FINALS UPDATE: Star (1.2) adjusted up while Law and Order: SVU (R) (0.7), Law and Order: SVU (R) (0.8) and Arrow (R) (0.2) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• It was a night of premieres on CBS, with a two-hour Survivor (1.7/1.6) leading into the hastily-scheduled Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (0.9) at 10/9c. It feels like a pretty modest return by Survivor standards, especially compared to the 2.3 fall opener, but it was still about the same Plus as the 1.9 which opened last spring (which later grew into low-2's for most of the season). Meanwhile, Beyond Borders opened on a new series low and only about in line with a low-end Code Black episode (though it was an improvement on the recently pulled Doubt).

• On ABC, the big news was the return of Designated Survivor (1.3), which looked fairly robust coming off of a very lengthy in-season hiatus. This would be up from the fall finale and tied for the show's best rating since week four. It led out of comedies The Goldbergs (1.7), Speechless (1.5), Modern Family (1.9) and Black-ish (1.4), which were all on the downside in the prelims. We'll see after finals if this is officially the week Modern finally drops below a 2 for the first time.

• Fox had the penultimate week of the Lethal Weapon (1.2) and Star (1.1) combo, and it was a fairly soft night for both; Weapon had a new series low, while Star couldn't bounce back from last week's low with a repeat lead-in.

• And there were drama repeats on both NBC (0.8/0.9/0.7) and the CW (0.3/0.2).

The Breakdown: CBS Wednesday in 2015-16 (Survivor, Criminal Minds, Code Black and more!)

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

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 5/25/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Law and Order: SVU (1.6) and Finding Nemo (1.3) adjusted up. Supernatural (0.7) adjusted down.

• It was a fairly anticlimactic final night of the 2015-16 season, with most of the biggest Wednesday shows already done for the season. The lighter competition was good news for Law and Order: SVU (1.5), which won the night with a surge to its best rating in a couple months. It was surrounded by Heartbeat (0.7) and Chicago PD (1.4), which were both steady.

• Fox will have to wait a little while longer for a non-fractional summer series result, as Wayward Pines returned for season two with a 0.9 rating, still pretty passable by Fox standards. This was just a tenth behind last year's series premiere, but season one had notable post-premiere growth that may be tough for this run to match. Its lead-in was Rosewood (0.8), which took a huge dip to a new low with no Empire lead-out.

• ABC ended the four-year run of Nashville with just a 0.9, up just a tenth from recent results. It actually had a fairly normal-sized lead-in as the network aired movie Finding Nemo (1.1/1.4), in preparation for the sequel Finding Dory's upcoming release.

• CBS' final edition of primetime The Price is Right (1.2) ticked up, but two more original hours of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (1.0/1.0) hit new lows once again.

• The CW seemed to benefit a bit from the lightened competition as Arrow (0.8) and Supernatural (0.8) both had season finale rises.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 5/11/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Empire (3.7) and The Goldbergs (1.9) adjusted up, while Black-ish (1.5) and Nashville (0.8) adjusted down.

• The CBS/NBC crime drama duel swung decisively back to NBC, with Chicago PD (1.4) and especially Law and Order: SVU (1.4) on the upswing from their stinker returns a week ago. SVU benefited significantly as CBS traded out the Criminal Minds mothership for a bonus episode of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, which averaged a new low 1.1 in both hours. 

• At 8/7c, Survivor had another 2.1, while NBC's Heartbeat was back down to 0.7.

• In the prelims, ABC's Wednesday anchors The Middle (1.6) and Modern Family (2.1) are each eyeing new season lows, with The Goldbergs (1.8) tied for a low, while Black-ish (1.6) and Nashville (0.9) held up better.

• On Fox, Empire (3.6) was at least even and maybe up after finals from last week, but Rosewood (1.1) was down to its worst rating with an Empire lead-out yet. (Even worse than Thanksgiving Eve!)

• Arrow (0.8) and Supernatural (0.7) each inched back up after last week's declines.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 5/4/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: NBC's night got a little less brutal after Heartbeat (0.8) and Chicago PD (1.3) each adjusted up. Yet again, Nashville (0.8) adjusted down.
  

• The first Wednesday of May sweeps was the first Wednesday in quite a long time with all the networks at full original strength. That was really bad news for NBC, as Law and Order: SVU (1.1) and Chicago PD (1.2) got throttled in their returns from over a month off. Both shows hit new season lows by multiple tenths. Heartbeat led off with another 0.7.

• CBS' Criminal Minds (1.8) had a season finale uptick (matching last season's finale), while Survivor (2.1) did well again at 8/7c. At 10/9c was Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (1.2), which had its lowest number yet with an original Minds lead-in... but it was also the first time since very early in its run that it had to contend with PD in the 10:00 hour. It should be interesting to see how this CBS/NBC dynamic goes next week with two hours of Beyond Borders.

• ABC's Mother's Day comedy episodes of The Middle (1.7), The Goldbergs (1.9), Modern Family (2.2) and Black-ish (1.6) were mostly very steady, while Nashville preliminarily inched up to 0.9 but is always in danger of negative adjustment.

• Fox's Rosewood (1.2) and Empire (3.6) were each down just a touch.

• And it was a low-end CW night with Arrow (0.7) and Supernatural (0.6) both on the downswing.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 4/27/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Empire (3.8) and The Middle (1.7) adjusted up while Nashville (0.8) and SVU (0.7) adjusted down.

• Many of Wednesday's biggest shows were in repeats yet again on the eve of May sweeps, meaning Fox had another overwhelming Wednesday victory with Rosewood (1.3) up a tenth from last week and Empire (3.7) quite possibly up after finals come in.

• ABC had a repeat of Modern Family (1.3) at 9/8c and a fairly strong behind-the-scenes special from The Goldbergs (1.6) at 8:30, going just a few tenths behind its usual original ratings. The other two comedies were original, with The Middle (1.6) eyeing a new season low at 8/7c while Black-ish (1.5) held up quite well at 9:30. Nashville (0.9) inched up from last week when it had a repeat lead-in, but may be close to another finals downtick.

• On CBS, Survivor (2.1) was up for the second straight week, but Criminal Minds (1.0) was in repeats. Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders inched back down to the 1.2 it got on the last Wednesday without a Minds original.

• NBC's Heartbeat hopes to hold onto its preliminary 0.8 this time after adjusting down last week. (I'm assuming the network had another Portland preemption.) And it was the last week of a lengthy hiatus for Law and Order: SVU (0.8) and Chicago PD (0.7), which will finally be original again next week.

• And the CW's Arrow (0.9) and Supernatural (0.7) had a solid return from hiatus, with Arrow up a tenth.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 4/20/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Empire (3.7) and The Goldbergs (1.2) adjusted up. Heartbeat (0.7), SVU (0.7) and Black-ish (1.0) adjusted down.

• CBS and Fox were the only two networks airing their biggest guns in originals, but the results were fairly mixed anyway. On Fox, Empire (3.6) was down again, though its decline slowed considerably; it should finish down a tick or two after finals, still dipping below its series premiere's raw number for the first time other than Thanksgiving Eve. Rosewood stayed at 1.2.

• On CBS, Survivor (2.0) got back into the twos, while Criminal Minds had another 1.7. Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (1.3) took a turn downward after last week's surge, though it's still looking a bit better than Code Black.

• ABC's only original was Nashville (0.8), which inched down to tie its fall finale low following comedy repeats (1.1/1.1/1.2/1.1).

• Heartbeat (0.8) was the lone new episode on NBC, rebounding by a tenth after its crash against American Idol two weeks ago. It was followed by repeats of SVU (0.8) and Chicago PD (0.8).

• And the CW's Arrow (0.3) and Supernatural (0.3) were on hiatus for one more Wednesday.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 4/13/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The Goldbergs (1.9) adjusted up while Black-ish (1.5), Nashville (0.9), Strong (0.9) and Arrow (0.2) adjusted down.

• It's been a rough season for fitness reality shows, and it looks like America had little interest in yet another one: NBC's Strong opened with a mere 1.0 rating at 9:00 and fell to 0.9 at 10:00, significantly below its 1.7 lead-in from a special Wednesday The Voice. If it can pull a Little Big Shots and translate the whole rating over to Thursday, it'd be a respectable rating for that timeslot... but that kind of hold is always unlikely, especially over the long term.

• On Fox, Empire (3.8) fell another 10%ish in its third spring episode. Since it had to trade out American Idol for Rosewood (1.2) at 8/7c, this particular drop may not be as bad as it looks. But it's still Empire's first return to the threes since the special Thanksgiving Eve episode... and excluding that, it's the first time since the 3.8 series premiere.

• CBS saw the return of Criminal Minds (1.7) at 9/8c, which had its lowest rating of 2016 even with no Law and Order: SVU competition. However, its newbie lead-out Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (1.5) took big advantage of the light competition at 10/9c, surging to its best Minds retention yet. Survivor matched last week's 1.9.

• ABC was very close to last week with The Middle (1.7), The Goldbergs (1.8), Modern Family (2.2), Black-ish (1.6) and another seemingly shaky 1.0 for Nashville.

• CW went with repeats of Arrow (0.3) and Supernatural (0.3).