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

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

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 1/29/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The Big Bang Theory (4.5), Grey's Anatomy (2.8) and How to Get Away with Murder (3.1) all adjusted up. Mom (2.8) did not adjust down, so the new series high is official.

• ABC was back in business on Thursday in impressive fashion, as Grey's Anatomy (2.7) and Scandal (3.6) each saw double-digit spikes from their fall finales (and Scandal was two tenths above its winter premiere last season). If there was an an underachiever, it was How to Get Away with Murder (3.0), which was still at bonafide big hit levels but preliminarily didn't even make it back to the fall finale number.

• But Murder had a good reason for at least part of the relative softness; NBC got a sizable spike at 10/9c for the series finale of Parenthood (1.7). This was Parenthood's biggest rating in its two Thursday seasons, and it was a considerable four tenths above both last week's penultimate episode as well as last season's finale. NBC was also up in the first two hours with the two-hour The Biggest Loser finale (1.4). For a show that has historically had huge finale spikes, that's not much of an increase on last week's 1.2, but NBC will probably take it given the increased competition.

• Fox took sizable drops in week two of the pairing between American Idol (2.2) and Backstrom (1.4). Considering how much Idol was down, it probably could've been even worse than a 25%ish drop for Backstrom; it remained slightly ahead of the corresponding Rake episode. But the show still has another big competitor to deal with next week, and it's already at bubble levels at best.

• CBS brought back The Big Bang Theory (4.4), which was just barely below its last original three weeks ago. It appears it will knock off Wednesday's Empire (4.3) for the week's top (reguarly-scheduled) scripted episode. That helped vault Mom (2.8) to what could be another new series high if it holds in finals. Later in the night, Elementary (1.3) suffered a bit against increased drama competition.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 1/22/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The picture darkened a bit for Backstrom after finals, as it adjusted down to 1.9 while its American Idol lead-in was up to 2.8. (It's another piece of good news for Idol, though, which was up two tenths vs. last week's two-hour episode.) The Vampire Diaries (0.8) gained a much-needed tenth to get back to pretty normal levels, while Mom (2.4) adjusted down to tie last week's episode. The Bad Judge finale (0.7) lost a tenth.

• Fox's Backstrom (2.0) had a relatively reasonable start, going three tenths above last year's Rake launch despite Idol (2.7) dropping more than 20% from 52 weeks ago. But it's worth reiterating that the Rake premiere was an unmitigated disaster, so even a decidedly better start doesn't necessarily put it on track for a success. It's on the map, but much more competition looms in the weeks ahead.

• CBS had another successful comedy night against the light competition, as Mom (2.5) actually grew from its The Big Bang Theory repeat lead-in (2.4), Two and a Half Men (2.3) upticked and another TBBT repeat (1.9) livened up the 9:30 slot vs. yanked The McCarthys.

• The CW had a soft Thursday return with The Vampire Diaries (0.7) and Reign (0.4) each below average.

• As ABC and NBC wrap up their filler lineups, ABC's The Taste (0.8) finished a weak third season by dropping a tenth, while the penultimate episodes of The Biggest Loser (1.2) and Parenthood (1.3) were each at average levels.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 1/15/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• The Big Bang Theory went back into repeats (2.5), but the rest of the CBS lineup didn't suffer too much. In particular, Mom (2.4) seems like a more impressive performer in these post-repeat airings than when TBBT is original. Two and a Half Men (2.1), The McCarthys (1.5) and Elementary (1.3) also took modest drops.

• It wasn't a good second Thursday for American Idol (2.6), which took a big drop vs. the first three nights and saw the year-to-year gap widen compared to the opening Thursday (it was 24% behind 2014's second Thursday). This does not bode that well for next week's Backstrom launch.

• NBC and ABC continued playing out their filler lineups; ABC's The Taste (0.9) was even, but NBC had week-to-week drops across the board, including from The Biggest Loser (1.1) and Parenthood (1.2).

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 1/8/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Despite a finals downtick, Mom (2.7) still held onto its new series high. The Big Bang Theory (4.6), Two and a Half Men (2.3) and Elementary (1.5) all adjusted up for CBS, as did Fox's American Idol (3.1).

• The two-hour Thursday premiere of American Idol (3.0) was pretty close to Wednesday's rating, and down by a slightly more reasonable 23% vs. last year's Thursday premiere. Idol jumped noticeably across the night (2.5 -> 2.9 -> 3.2 -> 3.4), further suggesting that the Wednesday comparison suffered unfairly from the episode being just one hour.

• It was another night of above-average ratings on the other networks, though the usual CBS January comedy explosion was somewhat limited by Idol being around earlier than usual. The biggest winner was definitely Mom (2.8), which hit another new series high. But The Big Bang Theory (4.5) was well down from the mid-5's it pulled in the pre-Idol January weeks last year, and Two and a Half Men (2.2), The McCarthys (1.7) and Elementary (1.4) similarly had only modest week-to-week growth.

• ABC and NBC were still low, but at least a bit better than what they've posted in recent weeks. Reality series The Biggest Loser (1.3) and The Taste (0.9) each rebounded noticeably from last week's ugly numbers, while Parenthood (1.4) returned at a tie for its season high.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 11/13/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: After finals, it was still a nice night for CBS' 8/7c hour, as The Big Bang Theory (4.5) was up two tenths for the second straight week, marking a solid recovery from its initial stumble after moving to Thursday. And Mom (2.6) finished up three tenths to a new series high. Two and a Half Men (2.1) was even week-to-week, The McCarthys (1.4) down a tenth, and Elementary down two more tenths to a simply ridiculous 1.0. I had always thought CBS would ride this one out on Thursday for the season, but... this is getting really bad.
• Bones (1.3) got a finals uptick to avoid a new season low, but The Vampire Diaries (0.7) did not this time.

• Week three of CBS' lineup will once again have to wait for finals due to pre-emptions in both of the Thursday Night Football markets. It's hard to imagine Mom (2.8) won't end up at least a bit above last week's 2.3, and The Big Bang Theory (4.5) may be up as well. But Two and a Half Men (2.2) and The McCarthys (1.6) each beat last week's finals by just a tenth and Elementary (1.2) was even.

• TGIT's domination intensified in its penultimate edition of 2014 as Scandal (3.2) shot up to its biggest rating since week two and How to Get Away with Murder (2.9) was also up a tenth.

• Elsewhere, even more ugliness than usual. Bones (1.2) shed another tenth on Fox, NBC saw Parenthood (1.0) hit a new low leading out of a particularly horrific A to Z (0.6), and The Vampire Diaries (0.7) will (as usual) hope for a finals boost to avoid its first 0.7 of the season.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 10/30/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Factoring out NFL pre-emptions took CBS' Thursday from neutral to decidedly negative. The winners in the prelims, Mom (2.5) and Two and a Half Men (2.4), moved into a much more "meh" territory, while The McCarthys (1.7) now looks extremely bad and Elementary (1.2) is an almost unbelievably abject disaster.
• On the plus side, Scandal (3.1) rose to put it on the week-to-week upside, while The Vampire Diaries (0.8) upticked to avoid its first 0.7 of the season.

• CBS' return to Thursday entertainment programming was very much a mixed bag. They'll definitely take the series high 2.7 start for Mom at 8:30, though it looks a little better than a 2.7 would seem on the surface because its lead-in The Big Bang Theory (4.1) took a hit in its return from Monday. It will probably decrease in finals but right now it's about two-thirds retention, which is wayyy better than The Millers. Two and a Half Men (2.7) was definitely a win, hitting its highest rating since last season's premiere and fully retaining Mom. But things got very troublesome starting at 9:30; The McCarthys (1.9) barely managed 70% retention on premiere night, and Elementary (1.4) could only get back to the series low at which it ended last season.

• ABC was only at two-thirds strength for TGIT #6, but Scandal (3.0) held up fabulously even with a Peanuts special (1.7) filling in well below Grey's Anatomy numbers at 8/7c. However, How to Get Away with Murder (2.7) took a bit of a hit at 10/9c.

• With a second reasonably-rated network back in the entertainment game, there were some major ratings stinkers on the other networks. Bones (1.3) went well below its recent deliveries at 8/7c, while NBC hit lows anew with The Biggest Loser (1.1), Bad Judge (0.9), the now on death watch A to Z (0.7) and Parenthood (1.1). The Vampire Diaries (0.7) also had a bad night for the CW.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 10/9/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Hours after a Nielsen announcement about a "technical error" affecting broadcast final ratings for months, ABC's three series did not adjust up. This is likely not a coincidence, and there's a good chance that many of ABC's sizable adjustments in recent weeks will be wiped out or reduced after the revisions are released on October 17. (Though it's not clear whether we'll actually see these new numbers.) However, Bones (1.6) and The Vampire Diaries (0.8) did go up by a tenth.

• Week three of TGIT remained the definitive entertainment lineup, but it came down a little more. Grey's Anatomy (2.4) and Scandal (3.0) were each down just over 10% more (though likely just less than 10% after finals). The really good news was that How to Get Away with Murder (3.1) actually took a smaller drop, and at least in preliminaries was ABC's outright biggest show of the night.

• Among last week's soft premieres, the only one that kept things kinda interesting in week two was NBC's Bad Judge (1.3). It was even week-to-week even as The Biggest Loser (1.2) declined. That's not half bad, really. However, its lead-out A to Z (1.0) was down a typical amount, and Gracepoint (0.9) became the season's third sub-1.0 Fox newbie (with Mulaney likely to follow it soon).

• Bones (1.5) and Parenthood (1.3) continued to hang in rather respectably, but the CW had a week two decline from The Vampire Diaries (0.7).

SpotVault - Parenthood (NBC) - 2014-15 Ratings

Parenthood

Thursdays, 10/9c, NBC

Spotted Ratings, Premiere Thursday 9/25/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: All three ABC shows added another tenth in finals. CBS' Giants/Redskins football game averaged a 6.0 (combined with NFLN), up 33% from last week. It was at roughly 4.7 on only CBS. The big five were up 12% vs. last year's premiere Thursday, though it's more like 1% once the NFLN numbers are taken out of the CBS ratings. (CBS would be +12% vs. their big one-hour Big Bang + The Crazy Ones night last year.)

• ABC is definitely thanking God that it's Thursday. Grey's Anatomy (3.0) took only an average drop from last year's premiere in its move to 8/7c, a really outstanding result given mid-2's were the norm even at 9:00 late last season. Scandal (3.8) is already at a new series high, two tenths above last year's premiere, and it could be farther ahead after finals. And How To Get Away With Murder (3.8) was the week's biggest newbie premiere, drawing a large crowd even outside the Scandal audience. (Beyond matching Scandal's demo, it also shot up from Scandal's total viewership by over two million.) ABC was +32% vs. last year's Premiere Thursday, which featured two hours of Grey's and an Agents of SHIELD repeat. It's not clear how sustainable all of this is, but it's not a huge stretch to say it could end up being ABC's strongest three-hour lineup since the Desperate Housewives/Grey's Anatomy heydays.

• Given these huge numbers, the results weren't too ugly for premieres on Fox and NBC. Bones (1.6) basically matched its spring numbers but was way down from last fall, while NBC's Parenthood (1.4) was within two tenths of last season's premiere despite a much smaller lead-in. Parenthood narrowly outrated lead-in The Biggest Loser (1.3), which held even week-to-week against the increased competition. NBC was -20% vs. last year's premiere Thursday, while Fox had another very ugly number at -46% (though this time a 9/8c Sleepy Hollow repeat (0.7) is at least something of an excuse).

• Football details after finals, but even in another blowout, the game looks to be well up from last week.

Fall 2014 Best Case/Worst Case, Thursday 10/9c

Best Case/Worst Case moves to the Thursday 10/9c hour, when (as at 9/8c) ABC will try to post huge numbers against relatively little broadcast resistance.

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

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

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 4/17/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• A curiously packed mid-April night of season finales was of course highlighted by Scandal (3.4), which edged last year's finale (3.2) and tied this spring's premiere on February 27 as the second-highest rated episode in series history. An upward adjustment in total viewers (to 10.57 million) made it a series high in total viewership, barely edging the fall premiere (10.52 million).

• The other three finales were all for bubble shows, and probably the closest thing to good news was Parenthood (1.3) going a bit above average even in a head-to-head with Scandal. Community (1.0) rose a tenth week-to-week, but it also had less competition than usual due to a repeat The Big Bang Theory (2.2). And the loser was CBS' The Crazy Ones (1.6 at 9:00 and a pitiful 1.3 at 9:30), which went well below all previous results when sandwiched by repeat hours at 8 and 10 (though the 8:30 The Big Bang Theory (2.6) provided basically the same lead-in volume as it usually has).

• Fox reality was on the rebound as Hell's Kitchen (1.7) got pretty much back on track with no Shark Tank in the hour and American Idol (1.9) actually tied the Wednesday edition. But following decent holds in weeks two and three, Surviving Jack (1.0) took a week four hit.

• And the CW's nightmare week continued with The Vampire Diaries (0.7) plunging to a new low and Reign (0.4), like The 100 the night before, failing to rally even with an original lead-in reinstalled.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 4/10/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• It was another very modest weeknight tryout for Shark Tank (1.7), down 15% from its usual amazing-for-Friday 2.0 in a Thursday 8/7c test. I tend to think these things are always set up for disappointment to a certain extent because shows take a hit when airing out of pattern, and Thursday at 8 after DST isn't even that much higher-viewed than its usual Friday 9/8c slot. But this will certainly not serve as evidence that would encourage ABC to move it off of Friday.

• If there was a silver lining for Shark Tank, it was that it at least brought competing reality Hell's Kitchen (1.4) down with it. Ouch.

• The other ugly result was Reign (0.4), which dropped to a new series low in its second episode without an original The Vampire Diaries lead-in. In True terms, this is basically the equivalent of getting a 0.5 after an original. Reign has done that in the past, but not for a little while.

• To round out a rough night, the CBS and NBC lineups mostly inched downward, which meant lots of ties for lows in peacock land: Community (0.9), Parks and Recreation (1.0) and Parenthood (1.1). Only 10/9c dramas Scandal (3.0) and Elementary (1.6) were on the week-to-week upswing preliminarily, though American Idol joined after finals.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 4/3/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• The return of CBS' Thursday lineup from basketball hiatus was relatively status quo. Everything but The Millers (2.8, rebounding from an off week last time) was within a tenth week-to-week in the prelims, but a downward adjustment for Elementary (1.5) left it down 0.2 and at a tie for a series low. The Big Bang Theory (4.9) did not make a run at the How I Met Your Mother finale for top scripted rating this week, but it should beat it in True (as the PUT estimate was roughly 5 points higher in HIMYM's full 8:00 hour on Monday than in TBBT's 30 minutes on Thursday).

• Week two of Surviving Jack (1.2) on Fox was down just a tenth week-to-week, with American Idol (1.7) down two. The trend might be somewhat promising if it hadn't started poorly last week.

• ABC's Scandal (2.9) gave back its gains from last week, returning to its familiar upper-2's level with both competing dramas back in the mix. And a finals uptick for Grey's Anatomy (2.7) meant it was up for a third straight week.

• NBC struggled most against the return of CBS, with Community (0.9) at a new low, Parks and Recreation (1.1) tying its lowest rating since Community came back, and Parenthood (1.2), like Scandal, surrendering its recent gains.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 3/27/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• Fox's new comedy Surviving Jack (1.3) did not get off to a good start. Though it retained the American Idol (1.9) demo by percentage far better than previous occupant Rake, it also had a much weaker Idol to deal with. It's probably on the wrong side of the bubble unless it holds 100%+ of this going forward.

• On ABC, Scandal (3.1) had a big night, popping into the 3's for the first time since the spring premiere. After finals, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland and Grey's Anatomy each joined Scandal to make for a full night of +0.2's.

• NBC's repeats of Hollywood Game Night (1.1 at 8:00, 1.1 at 9:00) nearly tied or topped recent original numbers in their respective hours (including the last new HGN from two weeks ago). It's been clear since last summer that this show's greatest value is in its repeatability. Parenthood (1.4) also had a good night, inching above its usual 1.2-1.3 range to its first 1.4+ since October.

• Not sure what on earth happened to The Vampire Diaries, but at least it got a little less ugly in finals. An adjustment up to 0.8 still leaves it at a new series low, though.

• The CBS basketball games narrowly outrated the corresponding second Thursday last year, with the Dayton/Stanford opener doing the heavy lifting..

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 2/27/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• After suffering through a couple miserable premieres over the past few days, it was finally ABC's turn for some good news as their strong Thursday duo returned from 2.5 months off in very healthy form. Scandal (3.4) was up two tenths from its fall finale and Grey's Anatomy (3.1) saw an even bigger bounce, perhaps benefiting from Rake (0.8) providing even less competition than Glee did back in the fall. 

• If ABC was overdue for some good news, NBC was also overdue for some bad. And as usual, the Thursday lineup obliged. Community (1.0), Parks and Recreation (1.0) and Parenthood (1.1) all hit/nearly hit season lows, and Hollywood Game Night (1.2) caught the Thursday disease too in dipping below all its Monday episodes from the winter. (It was only ahead of the Christmas special in December.) Still, at least Game Night was a much better option than the yanked Sean Saves the World and The Michael J. Fox Show...

• CBS' flip of Two and a Half Men (2.5) to 9/8c and The Crazy Ones (1.9) to 9:30 paid immediate dividends, as the former handily outrated TCO's recent 9:00 norm and had a major surge vs. its recent results. And The Crazy Ones didn't even really suffer at 9:30, as its lead-in from Men was only barely weaker than what it had usually gotten from The Millers.

• History's strong drama Vikings (1.3) returned for season two at a number well below last year's inflated series premiere (2.0) but pretty much in line with what it did for the rest of season one.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 11/7/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC's latest change in the 8/7c hour was an original results episode of The Voice, which obviously blew away anything they've aired in the hour this season, but it was 17% below the special Thursday Voice last year. After finals, Sean Saves the World still got a slightly above-expectation boost, but certainly not anything that suggests any promise when The Voice is gone next week. And it was of no help to The Michael J. Fox Show, down again!

• While the return of The Big Bang Theory in originals meant CBS can say its new comedies went up, the reality is another disappointing week from The Millers, The Crazy Ones and Two and a Half Men, all behind their numbers from two weeks ago against the World Series.

• For Fox, the story of The X Factor remains the same: it's terrible even if you account for the atypical competitive situation with The Voice on the night; it was down 40% from the last Thursday episode. Maybe it rallies in future weeks, but can it rally enough to make a meaningful difference? And Glee returned within a tenth of its last pre-Monteith tribute episode on October 3, which I guess isn't that bad given X was almost a point weaker than on that night.

• After a week off, things got really ugly for Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, and Scandal also dropped another tick on the ABC front. 

• And the CW got its second straight big bounce-back at 8/7c with The Vampire Diaries and its second straight non-bounce-back from 9/8c newbie Reign, though Reign did tie its season highs in the 18-34 demos. Reign and fellow newbie The Tomorrow People are seemingly on about equal borderline footing with decision time surely getting near. I could see them biting the bullet and back-nining all three new shows.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 10/3/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• The hottest show on broadcast TV took another big step up in its season three premiere, as ABC's Scandal went 0.4 points above its high point at the end of last season and 71% above the season two premiere.

• NBC filled out its comedy Thursday with the very weak premieres of Welcome to the Family and Sean Saves the World (which only got worse after Cleveland pre-emptions were taken out). On premiere night they were already well behind even the weak Up All Night and The Office of yesteryear. Said pre-emptions also made The Michael J. Fox Show (now down 23% from the premiere) and Parenthood (now down a tick) look even worse.

• CBS also rounded out its comedy lineup with a mediocre premiere from The Millers, which held just 63% of its The Big Bang Theory lead-in. The Crazy Ones dropped 26% in week two, but that's not so bad given its lead-in was down a massive 2.8 points. Two and a Half Men had a stinky second week, shedding a half point.

• The CW began its drama season by welcoming back The Vampire Diaries and premiering modestly at 9/8c with spin-off The Originals, which probably wanted to take a bit more demo than this to its Tuesday timeslot. Both were well below the TVD/Beauty and the Beast premieres from last year on this night, though that may have been largely due to simulcast debate competition last year.

• And week two of Glee took the show's trademark huge post-premiere drop. The Cory Monteith tribute comes next week.

SpotVault - Parenthood (NBC) - 2013-14 Ratings

Parenthood

Thursdays, 10/9c, NBC