The Breakdown: ABC Tuesday in 2016-17 (The Middle, American Housewife, Agents of SHIELD and more!)

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

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 5/30/17

FINALS UPDATE: America's Got Talent (2.7) and Lethal Weapon (R) (0.6) adjusted up while Imaginary Mary (0.5) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC began what will be a summer of Tuesday dominance with the return of America's Got Talent (2.6) leading into a true breakout showing from new reality series World of Dance (2.4) at 10/9c. Got Talent incredibly tied the raw number of each of its last two season premieres, while World of Dance was sixty percent ahead of last year's Maya and Marty premiere.

• ABC had the second Tuesday episode of Downward Dog (0.7), which fell flat as it was joined by comedies instead of Dancing with the Stars this time.

• Elsewhere, it was a surprisingly heavy night for leftover originals from regular season series. That included the finales of Prison Break (0.9) on Fox, which had a redemptive bounce-back, and Imaginary Mary (0.6) on ABC. The CW's iZombie (0.3) began its summer run by building from a repeat of The Flash (0.2). And CBS had 48 Hours: NCIS (0.5) back at 10/9c leading out of drama repeats.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 5/16/17

FINALS UPDATE: NCIS (1.5) and Bull (1.3) adjusted up while The Middle (1.2) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• It was a night of finales on ABC, with The Middle (1.3) picking up a tenth and cancelled Imaginary Mary (0.8) losing one. American Housewife (1.2), Fresh Off the Boat (1.0) and Agents of SHIELD (0.7) were all even.

• CBS had its final all-original instance of a Tuesday lineup that will return intact next season. NCIS (1.4) and Bull (1.2) were even (with Bull coming back for one last original next week) while NCIS: New Orleans (1.1) went out on an uptick.

• On NBC, things got even worse for one of the most surprising renewals of upfront season, Great News (0.7/0.6), as its lead-in The Voice (1.5) was also on the downswing. But NBC took some solace in an uptick from the Chicago Fire (1.3) finale.

• Fox's steady Brooklyn Nine-Nine (0.7/0.6) and Prison Break (0.9) will both be back next week.

• And the CW had a preliminarily downtick from The Flash (0.9) leading into another 0.3 from iZombie.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 5/9/17

FINALS UPDATE: The Voice (1.7) and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (0.7) adjusted up while iZombie (0.3) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• ABC had even nights for The Middle (1.2), American Housewife (1.2) and Fresh Off the Boat (1.0) and a hail Mary spike from Imaginary Mary (0.9) on the eve of its fate being decided. Agents of SHIELD hung at 0.7 again.

• On NBC, week three of Great News (0.8/0.7) was up a tenth in the 9:30 hour, but that's probably not going to suffice; it's still below Trial and Error at its worst. The Voice (1.6) and Chicago Fire (1.2) were even.

• Fox went into double-pump mode with Brooklyn Nine-Nine (0.6/0.6) but could not bounce back from last week's low. However, Prison Break preliminarily got back last week's loss.

• CBS' NCIS (1.4) preliminarily inched down but Bull (1.2) and NCIS: New Orleans (1.0) were steady.

• And the CW's iZombie ticked up to a preliminary 0.4 again, leading out of another 1.0 from The Flash.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 5/2/17

FINALS UPDATE: The Middle (1.2) and NCIS (1.5) adjusted up while Prison Break (0.8) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• All the Tuesday regulars were back to originals, and that was not great news for NBC's Great News (0.8/0.6). Week two of the comedy tumbled by an enormous four tenths from last week in both the 9:00 and 9:30 half-hours. That instantly put it behind anything that Trial and Error had done in each of those half hours. Its surrounding programs The Voice (1.6) and Chicago Fire (1.2) were down by much less, but also hit season lows.

• ABC's own Tuesday newbie Imaginary Mary (0.7) had a rough night of its own, dropping from last week despite the return of lead-in Fresh Off the Boat (1.0) to originals. Elsewhere on the network, The Middle (1.1) is headed for a new low in the lead-off role, but American Housewife (1.2), Fresh and Agents of SHIELD (0.7) were steady.

• CBS had the only upticks of the evening as NCIS (1.4) and Bull (1.2) came up from their new lows from two weeks ago. However, NCIS: New Orleans (1.0) was down a notch.

• Fox joined in on the new ugliness with new lows for Brooklyn Nine-Nine (0.6) and the finale of The Mick (0.7), though Prison Break (0.9) remained resilient at 9/8c.

• And the CW was even with The Flash (1.0) and iZombie (0.3).

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 4/25/17

FINALS UPDATE: Agents of SHIELD (0.7) and The Mick (0.9) adjusted up while 48 Hours: NCIS (0.6) and iZombie (0.3) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC's new comedy Great News opened with a 1.2 demo at 9:00, slipping to a 1.0 at 9:30. This is just barely worse than the opening weeks of Trial & Error, which had much bigger lead-ins. The next question is if News can avoid the big week two drop that T&E saw in its second week in the 9:00 hour.
• Surrounding News were even The Voice (1.8) and Chicago Fire (1.3).

• On ABC, there were three comedy repeats (0.8/0.8/0.8) leading into an original Imaginary Mary (0.8), while Agents of SHIELD (0.6) finally fell back to its usual low from the winter.

• Fox was even across the board with Brooklyn Nine-Nine (0.7), The Mick (0.8 after sitting out last week) and Prison Break (0.9).

• CBS had drama repeats (0.7/0.8) leading into a preview of new newsmagazine 48 Hours: NCIS (0.7), which will be back to this slot in a month to eat up some early summer real estate.

• And The Flash (1.0) returned from hiatus, ticking up from its last ep in late March. It brought iZombie (0.4) up by a tick as well.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 4/18/17

FINALS UPDATE: The Middle (1.3) adjusted up while The Flash (R) (0.2) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC's The Voice (1.7/1.8) went to two hours and led into the double-episode finale of Trial and Error (0.9/0.7) at 10/9c. T&E basically matched its last couple weeks in the 9:00 hour.

• Voice was seemingly devastating to CBS' NCIS (1.3) and Bull (1.1), which both tanked to new lows by wide margins and decisively ending Bull's long streak of 1.3's. NCIS: New Orleans (1.1) fared quite well by comparison, enjoying the hiatus of Chicago Fire in the 10/9c hour.

• On ABC, The Middle will hope for finals help to avoid 1.2 again, but American Housewife (1.2) perked up. It was also a mixed bag at 9/8c opposite The Voice, as Fresh Off the Boat (1.0) was down but Imaginary Mary (0.9) took an interesting turn upward. Agents of SHIELD continued to make a surprisingly decent case in the spring with an uptick to 0.8.

• Week three of Prison Break (0.9) went fractional for Fox, with no help from a The Mick repeat lead-in (0.5). Brooklyn Nine-Nine hung at 0.7 in its second airing of the spring.

• And iZombie, the CW's only scripted original this week, stuck at 0.3 out of a repeat The Flash (0.3).

First Two Weeks, Imaginary Mary

WEEK ZERO (Wednesday 8:30 preview)
Rating: 1.375
Lead-in: The Goldbergs (1.7)
Competition: Survivor (1.8), Blindspot (0.9), Shots Fired (1.0), Arrow (0.5)

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 4/11/17

FINALS UPDATE: The Middle (1.3) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Fox's Brooklyn Nine-Nine (0.7) returned after over three months off, dropping by two tenths from its lowest point during the fall. After The Mick hung at 0.8, Prison Break (1.1) took a steep four-tenth drop in its second week back on the air, but it still eked out a second straight nightly win in adults 18-34 (1.0).

• ABC was the only other network in full original mode, but that didn't help comedies The Middle (1.2) and American Housewife (1.1), which were both down again to new lows. Fresh Off the Boat was even at 1.1, while its lead-in Imaginary Mary ticked down to 0.8 (tying The Real O'Neals' low point in the slot). With no original competition, Agents of SHIELD managed another 0.7 in its second airing of the spring.

• NBC's The Voice (1.6) easily topped the night despite airing a clip show, and was not much weaker than last week. Trial and Error (0.9/0.8) managed to stabilize at 9/8c, while Chicago Fire (0.6) was a repeat.

• The CW's iZombie ticked down to 0.3 in week two, with a 0.2 repeat The Flash lead-in. CBS was all drama repeats (0.9/0.7/0.7).

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 4/4/17

FINALS UPDATE: The Middle (1.4) and NCIS (1.6) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Fox's latest revival effort had a successful start, as Prison Break came out of the box with a very young-skewing 1.5 demo to top the 9:00 hour (and it easily won the whole night with a 1.3 A18-34). That's the same demo at which 24: Legacy started in February, 20 hours after airing post-Super Bowl, so count this as a noticeably more impressive showing. It led out of comedies New Girl (steady at 0.9 in its possible series finale) and The Mick (downticking to 0.8).

• ABC featured the timeslot premiere of Imaginary Mary (0.9), which looked like a typical The Real O'Neals episode leading out of Fresh Off the Boat (1.1), and an uptick in its return from hiatus for Agents of SHIELD (0.7). The 8/7c comedies fared relatively poorly, with The Middle (1.3) and American Housewife (1.2) each hitting new lows after two weeks off.

• On the CW, iZombie was back nearly a full year after its last airing with a 0.4 rating, a number it fell to just once last season. It led out of the season finale of Legends of Tomorrow (0.6)

• CBS' NCIS twins mothership (1.5) and New Orleans (1.0) were each down a tenth, surrounding a seventh consecutive 1.3 from Bull.

• And on NBC, it got even worse for Trial and Error (0.9/0.7), down yet another tenth in each half-hour leading out of a softer The Voice (1.9). At 10/9c, Chicago Fire pulled itself all the way up to 1.3, but that was still a new season low.

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.

SpotVault - Imaginary Mary (ABC) - Spring 2017 Ratings

Imaginary Mary

Tuesdays, 9:30/8:30c, ABC

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