Spotted Ratings, Friday 3/20/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• A six-year run for Glee ended with a huge whimper, only barely growing week-to-week in the 8:00 hour (0.8) and then actually dropping back to 0.7 in the 9:00 hour. So the two-hour finale for the one-time phenomenon was only narrowly above the season average.

• For NBC, Grimm (1.1) was back and airing an original in the 8/7c hour for the first time. In this timeslot, tying the last episode before hiatus seems like a decent win, but that also meant a tie for a season/series low.

• ABC's Last Man Standing (1.3) is off to another strong post-DST run as it grew a tenth week-to-week. Cristela (1.0) also inched up, but it has had some downward adjustments recently. Shark Tank (1.8) and 20/20 (1.1) remained below average. 

• CBS averaged a preliminary 1.2 for March Madness, about on par with last year's opening Friday.

War of 18-49 Update, Glee (2014-15)

Let's take a look at the 2014-15 season (the sixth and final overall) of Glee on Fox.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 3/13/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: CBS was indeed nicked due to basketball preemptions, with The Amazing Race (1.3) down two tenths and Hawaii Five-0 (1.2) and Blue Bloods (1.4) each down one. But this was still ultimately a good night for the network, as Race went up and the other shows held even. Cristela had another damaging finals downtick to 0.9.

• At least in the preliminaries, CBS was a huge winner on the first Friday after DST, with an insane spike from The Amazing Race (1.5) and upticks from Hawaii Five-0 (1.3) and Blue Bloods (1.5) as well. These shows overachieved even more drastically in 18-34 numbers, so it seems pretty likely that there will be some downward adjustment due to NCAA basketball preemptions. But it would take quite a downtick to spoil the Race's night.

• ABC's post-DST deliveries seemed a bit more realistic, as Last Man Standing (1.2) dropped a bit below its consistent January/February level (though it still avoided a season low). Shark Tank (1.8) was also below average, but Cristela (1.0) was flat.

• On Fox, World's Funniest Fails (0.8) was even for the last episode of its initial order, while Glee (0.7) inched up in the week before the two-hour finale.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 3/6/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• A one-week move to 8/7c was no problem for Shark Tank (1.9), but its two-hour lead-out preview of In an Instant (0.9) still had a light sampling, far below usual 20/20 numbers. The docudrama film series will be on Saturday starting tonight.

• Despite the added 8/7c competition, The Amazing Race (1.2) inched up in its second Friday episode, while Hawaii Five-0 was even at 1.2 and Blue Bloods (1.4) had a good outing. (It never got as high as 1.4 on an Amazing Race night in the fall.)

• NBC slightly grew week-to-week by installing a repeat of Law and Order: SVU (0.6) at 8/7c leading into Dateline (1.3), while Fox's World's Funniest Fails (0.8) and Glee (0.6) and the CW's Hart of Dixie (0.4) were all even again. 

Spotted Ratings, Friday 2/27/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Hawaii Five-0 (1.2) adjusted up.

• The Amazing Race (1.1) made its Friday return with the same number at which it began its Friday run in the fall (and, of note, below the Undercover Boss Friday season low). With it came the unfortunate return to mediocrity for CBS later in the night, as Hawaii Five-0 (1.1) sunk to its low point from the fall when it was airing after Race. Blue Bloods (0.7) was in repeat mode.

• Shark Tank (1.2) also snuck in a post-sweeps repeat, but it didn't stop the surrounding ABC hours from having pretty good nights; Last Man Standing (1.4) inched up to snap its long 1.3 streak, while Cristela (1.0) was back to normal. At 10/9c, 20/20's 1.3 was one of its better ratings without an original lead-in.

• NBC installed a little-watched The Night Shift (0.5) repeat at 8/7c to fill the Grimm hiatus, while Fox had a third straight 0.8/0.6 combo with World's Funniest Fails and Glee. CW's Hart of Dixie was even at 0.4.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 2/20/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• There was many a post-Valentine's rebound on the last Friday of February sweeps, but the biggest was for usual Friday champ Shark Tank (2.2), which tied its season high and could tie its series high if it adjusts up in finals. Its lead-out 20/20 (1.6) also had a very good night, perhaps benefiting from no Dateline competition. At 8/7c, Last Man Standing posted its fourth consecutive 1.3, but Cristela (0.9) had a discouraging result in Roseanne's return stint.

• CBS also fared well, with the Undercover Boss finale (1.3) inching up and procedurals Hawaii Five-0 (1.4) and Blue Bloods (1.5) each up two tenths. That marked a new season high for Blue Bloods.

• NBC continued to get outstanding mileage out of Sunday's Saturday Night Live 40th special, as a three-hour repeat (1.5) was much stronger than the network's usual lineup and made the network a very close second place overall.

• Fox was even with World's Funniest Fails (0.8) and Glee (0.6), and Hart of Dixie (0.4) ticked down from its last ep two weeks ago.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 2/13/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Hawaii Five-0 (1.2) went up a tenth.

• It was mostly an unlucky Friday the 13th on broadcast at the beginning of a holiday weekend. CBS took the hardest hit as drops from Undercover Boss (1.2) and Hawaii Five-0 (1.1) reverted the network to the ratings level it often experienced during the fall. 

• NBC's Grimm (1.1) and Dateline (1.0) also inched down to season lows, while ABC's Shark Tank (1.8) was a bit below average as the network sat out the 8/7c comedies in favor of a Charlie Brown Valentine special (1.0). The CW also preempted its regular programming for movie Safety Not Guaranteed (0.2).

• The steadiest network was actually Fox, but that might just be because it dropped so much last week. World's Funniest Fails (0.8) was even and Glee (0.6) up a tick.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 2/6/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Hart of Dixie (0.5) produced another eyebrow-raising result, adjusting up to 0.5 for the second time in three weeks. Shark Tank (2.0) cracked a two again, while Dateline (1.1) and Masters of Illusion (0.4) were also up and Cristela (1.0) down.

• It was a fairly quiet second Friday of February sweeps, and quietest of all on Fox. The previously reasonable pair of World's Funniest Fails (0.8) and Glee (0.5) each took sizable hits this week, putting the network in a distant fourth place. It took a month, but Glee finally went below that mortifying 0.6 at which it ended last season.

• On the big three, everything was even or slightly down. CBS saw Hawaii Five-0 (1.3) come down to match its lead-in Undercover Boss (1.3) and lead-out Blue Bloods (1.3), while the first two hours on ABC and NBC perfectly matched last week's prelims. The 10/9c newsmagazines 20/20 (1.2) and Dateline (1.0) each had pretty bad nights.

• The only shows on the upswing were the CW's Hart of Dixie (0.4), preliminarily inching back up after a drop last week, and the Whose Line Is It Anyway? (0.4) repeat.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 1/23/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Grimm (1.3) adjusted up.

• ABC and the CBS dramas went into repeat mode on the last Friday before February sweeps, but it didn't stop Shark Tank (1.5) from topping the night in one of the series' biggest repeat ratings ever. The other shows in repeats also fared well, including Hawaii Five-0 (1.1) and Blue Bloods (1.0) benefiting from an original Undercover Boss (1.4) lead-in. ABC also had encores for Last Man Standing (1.0) and Cristela (0.9); the latter's repeat actually slightly outrated its original low point from December.

• Those repeats didn't really produce any bounces on other networks, aside from a sizable increase for Dateline (1.3) in its second week at 10/9c. However, it may have helped keep Fox's World's Funniest Fails (1.0) and Glee (0.7) steady in week two of that pairing.

• On the CW, the second Friday outing for Hart of Dixie (0.5) was up a tenth. We'll see if it holds in finals, but it would be a really strong result on a CW Friday; it got as high as 0.5 in its Monday run just one time last season.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 1/16/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• Fox had a pretty good start out of blooper series World's Funniest Fails (1.0), which was a marked improvement on pretty much everything the network has aired on Friday this season. And it may have helped Glee (0.7) avoid a post-premiere drop.

• On ABC, Shark Tank (2.2) exploded to a season high at 9/8c. 8/7c comedies Last Man Standing (1.3) and Cristela (1.1) both came back to earth from big stunt numbers last week; however, that was still pretty decent news for Cristela, leaving it considerably ahead of some of its ratings from December. 

• NBC's flip of Constantine (0.8) to 8/7c and Dateline (1.0) to 10/9c did not go well; it was of no help to Constantine and seemingly hurtful to Dateline. Meanwhile, Grimm (1.2) came back at the low end of its ratings this season.

• With a stronger show at 8/7c, CBS remained improved over its usual fall ratings with the extremely consistent trio Undercover Boss (1.4), Hawaii Five-0 (1.4) and Blue Bloods (1.4).

• And the CW had a strong start out of Hart of Dixie (0.4) at 8/7c. It only got that high once in nine Friday tries last season (though that run came in the 9/8c hour).

SpotVault - Glee (Fox) - 2014-15 Ratings

Glee

Fridays, 9/8c, Fox

Spotted Ratings, Friday 1/9/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• ABC had a particularly big Friday return, riding big guest turns on Last Man Standing (1.6) and Cristela (1.3). For Last Man, which had Tim Allen's Home Improvement co-star Patricia Richardson, it was the biggest rating since the season two finale in March 2013. And Roseanne's stint on Cristela tied the series premiere rating from October. Shark Tank (1.9) and 20/20 (1.4) were pretty close to average, but still up from the most recent results.

• Fox's strong opening week of 2015 finally hit a bit of a speed bump with a low start for the final season of Glee (0.8 at 8:00 / 0.7 at 9:00). This was 60%+ below last season's premiere, but it wasn't that far behind where it settled for its miserable Tuesday run last spring. (And hey, it was up from the 0.6 finale!)

• CBS was nearly as impressive as ABC, with Undercover Boss (1.5) and Hawaii Five-0 (1.5) each inching up from their already impressive returns a week ago. The 100th Blue Bloods (1.4) was flat at last week's season high.

• And the week before the return of NBC's original dramas, the network removed its second hour of Dateline in favor of a very little-watched Golden Globes preview (0.5) at 10/9c.

Best Case/Worst Case, January 2015: Galavant, Agent Carter, Empire and More!

Welcome to the Best Case/Worst Case for broadcast television's January premieres! I couldn't come up with a good way of splitting up these 11 shows into multiple posts, so I'm knocking out the whole month now.

War of 18-49 Update, Glee (2013-14)

Let's take a look at the 2013-14 season (the fifth overall) of Glee on Fox.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 5/13/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• How do you give a new series launch the least possible media coverage? Premiere it during upfront week. How do you give it the least possible lead-in support? Put it after Glee. Throw in the show's total lack of inherent appeal and you get a 0.5 rating for the premiere of summer improv comedy show Riot. The only silver lining is that it might be able to get some "momentum" since its lead-in will improve with American Idol's performance finale next week. Arguably even more egregious was Glee dive-bombing to 0.6 in its penultimate season finale. Fox is still figuring out the "right" number of episodes for Glee's final season, but that number is pretty clearly zero. If you're keeping score at home, this was seventy percent below last year's finale (2.0).

• Most of the shows on other networks are eyeing week-to-week increases in their season finales.
• CBS seemed to fare best with NCIS (2.6), the final Tuesday edition of NCIS: Los Angeles (2.5) and Person of Interest (1.9) all up by multiple ticks;
• The last two About a Boy episodes (1.6/1.5) each improved their slots after last week's terrible numbers;
• ABC's Agents of SHIELD got it usual adjustment and thus inched up week-to-week, while the comedies were each up two;
• And the CW lost some steam in finals due to a New York city pre-emption but still had a nice two-tenth rebound for The Originals.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 4/29/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• The trainwreck just keeps coming for Fox Tuesday, but the finals helped. Glee (0.9) adjusted up to only tie its series low, while New Girl still had a new low but only by a tenth. Both shows were down roughly half from their deliveries in this week last year. The Mindy Project (1.1) still ended up fully retaining New Girl at 9:30, so that's something.

• Though the ratings are typically dissected very closely, there's usually little evidence that backdoor pilots do any different than a show's normal ratings. Maybe Supernatural (1.0) rising suggests more-than-normal interest in Bloodlines, but more likely it was just a general upswing for the network, as The Originals (0.8) had an uptick as well. That has to be of some great relief to the network after the show's had terrible declines of late.

• After an inconspicuous night in prelims, the finals were brutal for NBC; The Voice didn't adjust up, meaning a new low, while About a Boy (1.6) and Growing Up Fisher (1.4) adjusted down to their own new lows.

• On CBS, NCIS (2.5) bounced back from a very low number last week, but NCIS: Los Angeles (2.1) didn't follow it upward. ABC's Agents of SHIELD (2.1) and The Goldbergs (1.7) each ended up growing by multiple tenths week-to-week.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 4/22/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• The Voice (2.8) took a week-to-week drop on Tuesday, just as for its live premiere on Monday, but comedies About a Boy (1.9) and Growing Up Fisher (1.5) held up. The comedy results looked especially decent after the shows avoided their usual downward finals adjustments, leaving AaB up week-to-week.

• Agents of SHIELD (1.9) fell back into a tie with the last 8/7c episode two weeks ago, though that's still not great given CBS' NCIS went into repeats.

• Supernatural's huge plummet to 0.7 last week was pretty odd, but fortunately for the CW it was just a fluke; it got back to a more normal 0.9 this week. The Originals (0.6) had another new low in the prelims, and this time it didn't adjust up as it did last week.

• The Mindy Project (1.0) was steady even as New Girl (0.6) went back into repeats, and Glee (0.9) inched down to tie its low.

• Cable: FX's Fargo (0.65) was down 20% from its already modest premiere, but compared to the second weeks of fellow FX offerings The Americans (-32%) and The Bridge (-43%) that doesn't look so bad. The second week of Awkward (0.61) also had a significant dip, as did BET's comedies.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 4/1/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• April got off to a foolish start for Fox, where Glee (0.9) reverted to a tie with its series low from three weeks ago and the one-hour return of The Mindy Project (1.0) was at a new series low. Something to note about these shows is that while both are big W18-34 draws, they have very different 18-49 skews; Glee had about 700,000 more total viewers. This probably means Glee leans much more toward the teen end of that 18-34 demo and Mindy much more toward the 35-49 end. Given this incompatibility, I don't think Fox could've expected a lot more out of Mindy. We already know that it gets bad 18-49 ratings, and they'll always be worse without New Girl leading in. But they'll have to put up with another full hour of Mindy next week before New Girl comes back.

• On ABC, Agents of SHIELD (2.0) was back with a two-tenths upward adjustment in finals that makes this feel like a much better result than the 1.8 in prelims. It was still a tenth behind its last original episode, but now two tenths ahead of the 1.8 when it last returned from hiatus (and when it last faced NCIS). And The Goldbergs (1.5) was back down even with the lead-in increase, continuing to appear more tied to the presence of comedy competition than to the lead-in.

• CBS' NCIS (2.4) adjusted up off of its new low, so it's now only tied for a season low (and NCIS: Los Angeles (2.4) only tied it rather than beat it).

• Like many of the other ugly results in the 8/7c, The Voice (3.1) adjusted up in finals, but it was still down another three tenths. but they can take some solace in lead-out comedies About a Boy (2.0) and Growing Up Fisher (1.6) continuing to hold.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 3/25/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• The fourth timeslot originals for About a Boy (2.0) and Growing Up Fisher (1.7) each gave back the tenth gained last week; the good news is there were no finals downticks.

• The CBS drama lineup of NCIS (2.5), NCIS: Los Angeles (2.4) and Person of Interest (2.0) had an upswing night. PoI in particular seemed to benefit from Chicago Fire (1.0) going into repeats at 10/9c. NCIS also faced a repeat Agents of SHIELD (0.8).

• On a roller-coaster night for Fox, Glee held onto the 1.1 "spike" from last week's 100th episode, then New Girl (1.2) hit a new series low, then Brooklyn Nine-Nine (1.3) bounced up in its season finale.

• I don't really make anything of pilot encore ratings as a rule, but people may yell at me if I don't mention that The 100 got a 0.5 and 1.6 million viewers for its pilot encore at 8/7c.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 3/18/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• After finals adjustments, The Voice (3.6) and the third regularly-scheduled originals of lead-out newbies About a Boy (2.1) and Growing Up Fisher (1.8) were all up a tick week-to-week.

• Fox also had a bounce-back thanks to the 100th episode of Glee (1.1), but a repeat New Girl (0.7) at 9/8c halted that momentum, helping usher Brooklyn Nine-Nine (1.1) to a new low.

• ABC's special Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe (1.5) did much worse than the usual Agents of SHIELD original, but much better than the usual repeat. The Goldbergs (1.7) continued to operate apart from the 8/7c hour, growing two tenths week-to-week.

• And the CW had a new season low from The Originals (0.7), though Supernatural (0.9) adjusted up to merely tie its low. 

• Cable: Pretty Little Liars (1.28) had a truly massive 55% finale spike to a season high. After being down double-digits for most of the back half of this winter season, it ended with a finale up 9% year-to-year.