Spotted Ratings, Saturday 4/5/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• CBS had another brutal year-to-year Saturday since they lost the Final Four to Turner per the companies' March Madness arrangement. Turner had the main telecasts on TBS (2.07 for Florida/Connecticut, 3.40 for Kentucky/Wisconsin), but also had "teamcasts" on TNT/TruTV which were more friendly toward the individual schools. Florida/Connecticut had 1.03 TNT/0.33 TruTV, Kentucky/Wisconsin a 1.33 TNT/0.54 TruTV. Adding the teamcast numbers gets the later game (UK/Wisconsin) at least somewhat close to the 5.7 it scored in CBS primetime last year.

• The Saturday half-hour breakdowns were missing on my sheet this week, which normally I wouldn't sweat too much. But this time it's kinda a bummer because the two-hour finale of Rake had a preliminary 0.1 (zero point one) in the 8:30 half-hour, which I believe would be the first time a big four network averaged that for a half-hour. So I can't make that official, but both of Rake's episodes still tied the all-time low for a full program at 0.2.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 3/28/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• The California earthquake coverage didn't make a massive impact on Friday finals.
• A pair of very good games for CBS' Sweet 16 basketball (2.3/3.6) grew to a massive degree from the prelim on the same night last year (1.7/2.3);
• NBC had a good night with a special two-hour Dateline tying a season high. Hannibal adjusted down in finals but was still up a tenth week-to-week.
• Week two of Whose Line Is It Anyway? (0.5) was down a tick, but the 8:30 repeat (0.5) matched it;
• Rake (0.4) and the final scheduled Enlisted (0.4) were each down another tick, though the penultimate Raising Hope (0.5) grew at 9:30. Apparently this took Rake beyond what Fox could accept even in this slot, as it was pulled from Friday and will burn off a couple eps this Saturday.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 3/14/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• Fox's Rake (0.5) remained a massive disaster in its new Friday home. This was actually a couple tenths behind last week's repeat of Bones (0.7) in the hour, though its lead-out Enlisted (0.5) adjusted down to join it at 0.5 (a new low for that show). There could be some drama about whether Fox actually continues to play this out, though it's hard to imagine they could've really expected much better based on its miserable Thursday results.

• After its huge drop last week, Hannibal (0.9) got a bit of it back in week three. Its lead-in Grimm (1.6) also ticked up again.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 2/6/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• The first night of the Winter Olympics began on NBC with a 6.0 demo rating and 20.02 million viewers. The historical comparisons are tricky here as this night of coverage is a first-time thing, tacked on before tonight's Opening Ceremony because it's sure as heck a better option than airing their regular Thursday lineup. This could be representative of what we'll see going forward, or it could spike when the "traditional" coverage begins tonight. (For the record, the 2010 Winter Olympics averaged about a 6.5 demo but started with a 9.0 on Opening Ceremony night.)

• Unlike on most of the next 17 evenings, the networks mostly went full-strength against the Games on this irregular night. There was some but not a ton of impact ratings-wise. Most shows were even to a little down. The few shows to hit new lows included CBS' The Crazy Ones (1.7) and Fox's lineup of American Idol (3.1) and Rake (1.1).

First Two Weeks, Rake

WEEK ONE
Fox's new legal drama Rake began very disappointingly, opening with just 6.95 million viewers and a 1.7 demo. That was exactly half of its lead-in American Idol's full rating (3.4), and less than half of what it averaged at 8:30 (3.6). And it came against very little competition; CBS averaged about a 2.0 with repeat sitcoms, ABC was barely above 1.0 with The Taste, and NBC's now-pulled family sitcoms were well below 1.0. This was surely an easy cancellation-caliber performance given the ease of the timeslot (although, LOL, here's another take on it); its only hope was to at least maintain this raw number against the influx of competition. Based on how shows tend to perform in the post-premiere weeks, that would be a miracle.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 1/30/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• Fox's Rake (1.3) needed a week two miracle, and it didn't happen; in fact, the show was down nearly a quarter from last week's already terrible debut and now well below half of its lead-in from an also-sagging American Idol (3.2). It may get to burn off a few more episodes against the three Olympics Thursdays upcoming, but Fox should find something better starting the week after.

• Meanwhile, CBS was back to originals for the first time since Idol's arrival, and all the comedies - The Big Bang Theory (5.2), The Millers (2.6), The Crazy Ones (1.9) and Two and a Half Men (2.0) - dropped by roughly a half point from the "beauty contest" numbers against no competition three weeks ago. Elementary (1.9), though, looked quite good with both of the usual 10/9c dramas sitting out.

• NBC did much better than usual from 9-11 with a Saturday Night Live special (1.8), while Community (1.1) and Parks and Recreation (1.3) were even to barely up in their first airings against both Idol and TBBT.

SpotVault - Rake (Fox) - 2013-14 Ratings

Rake

Thursdays, 9/8c, Fox

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 1/23/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• Fox's new drama Rake premiered to a measly 1.7 demo rating and 7.1 million total viewers, dropping about half of its lead-in from American Idol (3.4). This may have been a conceivably OK number later in the season against full-strength competition. On this night, it means you can pretty much forget about it... unless the audience's reception was remarkably positive. (As for Idol, it was 35% below last season's second Thursday, and it still hasn't even faced an original CBS lineup yet.)

• Among the low-rated original fare elsewhere, ABC's The Taste (1.1) bounced back somewhat against a weaker (and one-hour) Idol, but NBC's Community (1.1) and Parks and Recreation (1.2) saw no such rally. And the finals changed the picture for the CW, which was up a tick for the 100th The Vampire Diaries (1.2) and even with the return of Reign (0.6).

The Question, Thursday 1/23/14: Will Fox's New Legal Drama Rake In the Viewers?

Fox's Greg Kinnear legal show Rake premieres tonight after American Idol (3.8 last Thursday, preliminary 4.0 this Wednesday). As with Chicago PD's premiere, the competition makes this feel like a spot where the show needs to overachieve to have much of a chance. ABC is in filler mode, NBC is in disaster mode and CBS is in repeat mode (though CBS' The Big Bang Theory repeat at 9/8c means they won't be far off of their usual original average). Later in the season, Grey's Anatomy and the Olympics are coming, and the Idol lead-in is dropping, so starting respectably is critical.

Over/Under: 2.35.

Winter 2014 Best Case/Worst Case, Thursday/Friday

The new year means many new premieres, which also means the return of Best Case/Worst Case! This year, the Winter Olympics somewhat complicates winter scheduling for the broadcasters, and a lot of premiere dates are still TBD. I'm assuming the still TBD stuff won't show up till after the Olympics (though I may have to do an emergency post if not). For now, we'll just visit the premieres through the end of the Winter Olympics, hitting the Thursday/Friday premieres today and the Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday ones on Monday. There will be another Best Case/Worst Case round for the late February/March period starting the day after the Olympics (Feb. 25).

If you're new to Best Case/Worst Case, here's what all the numbers mean.