The Breakdown: NBC Monday in 2015-16 (Blindspot, The Voice, Superstore and more!)

It's time for a journey through the NBC Monday schedule in 2015-16...

Spotted Ratings, Monday 2/22/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The Bachelor (2.5) adjusted up. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend went back down to 0.3 after a couple weeks with 0.4 finals.

• For the shows that faced the Grammys last week, it was a big rebound Monday, and most of those shows were pretty much back to their levels from two weeks ago. That included The X-Files (2.4), whose season finale tied for the lead at 8/7c and seems to have stayed solidly within "back the truck up to get it back" territory.
• A notable exception to the bounce-back rule was X-Files lead-out Lucifer. After holding up well against the Grammys, it actually dipped again this week to a new low 1.5, and a tougher lead-in situation looms with the return of Gotham next week.

• Among the shows that bounced all the way back post-Grammy were NBC's finales of Superstore (1.4), Telenovela (0.9) and The Biggest Loser (1.1/1.2), with Superstore making one last case for a renewal that curiously still hasn't come yet.

• Coming off of last week's preemption, CBS actually took the biggest hit by far. Supergirl (1.5) was on the low end, and Scorpion (1.7) and NCIS: Los Angeles (1.3) each had easily their worst showings since the new year.

• Also getting back to normal were ABC's The Bachelor (2.4/2.5) and Castle (1.1). CW's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (0.4) and Jane the Virgin (0.3) stayed flat after sitting out against the awards last week.

Spotted Ratings, Monday 2/15/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The Grammys averaged a 7.7, down just 7% from last year. The Biggest Loser adjusted down to 0.8.
• And on AMC, the return of Better Call Saul (1.06) re-established itself as one of the top cable dramas, but it went a bit behind the series low from season one.

• Event season made a rare stop on Monday as the Grammy Awards moved to the night and averaged a preliminary 7.4 rating from 8:00 to 11:00. In last year's Sunday telecast the show went from an 8.8 prelim to an 8.5 time zone-adjusted prelim to an 8.3 final.

• Everybody dropped at least a little bit with the added Grammy competition, and almost everybody by multiple tenths. Among the hardest hit was Fox's The X-Files (2.1), down by four tenths, but its lead-out Lucifer (1.6) did pretty well by comparison to only drop a single tenth.

• Despite its heavy female skew, The Bachelor (2.2) didn't take a particularly abnormal hit, and it was the biggest of the Grammy opponents, reverting to its early season ratings. Castle (0.9) edged its Sunday episode but hit a new Monday low.

• And NBC also lost multiple tenths across the board, with Superstore (1.2) staying well ahead of Telenovela (0.7) and The Biggest Loser (0.8/0.9).

• The only network to duck the Grammys was the CW, where a special on the video game Mortal Kombat X (0.3) and a repeat of Legends of Tomorrow (0.2) filled in for the usual female-skewing dramedies.

Spotted Ratings, Monday 2/8/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The Bachelor (2.5) and Scorpion (2.1) adjusted up.

• Week three of the new Fox Monday saw a slowed decline for The X-Files (2.5), still clearly a big hit in this landscape. However, Lucifer (1.7) took another relatively steep step downward at 9/8c.

• Lucifer may have suffered a bit from the return of CBS competition, as CBS had a reasonably solid day after the Super Bowl. Supergirl (1.8) bounced all the way back from last week's drop and Scorpion (2.0) and NCIS: Los Angeles (1.6) were also on the upswing.

• ABC saw The Bachelor (2.4/2.5) continue its usual mid-season surge, but didn't get much at 10/9c as Castle (1.1) returned from a long hiatus. This was about what it usually did in the fall, but just barely beat last week's Bachelor Live in the hour.

• And NBC's Superstore (1.4) stayed at last week's low, but Telenovela (0.9) and The Biggest Loser (1.1/1.2) rebounded a bit.

• On the CW, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is trying to make things interesting with its second straight 0.4, and it actually beat Jane the Virgin (0.3) this time.

Spotted Ratings, Monday 2/1/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The Bachelor (2.3), The X-Files (2.7) and Lucifer (2.0) adjusted up. NCIS: Los Angeles (R) (1.0) went down.

• Week two of the new Fox Monday saw The X-Files (2.6) and Lucifer (1.9) each drop in the general vicinity of 20% from last week. That's a bit more than the average week two slippage, but given how well they started, these results are still pretty positive.

• It seemed like such a win for Supergirl to hold at 1.8 last week that perhaps a reality check was inevitable in its second duel with The X-Files. And it certainly got one, dropping all the way to the low end of its fall results at 1.5. It may have hurt that its companions Scorpion (1.2) and NCIS: Los Angeles (1.1) were in repeats. (Notably, NCIS: LA actually had a 1.1 original in October!) 

• Most of the other options had a fairly soft night, too. NBC dropped a bit across the board with Superstore (1.4), Telenovela (0.8) and The Biggest Loser (1.0), and ABC's The Bachelor (2.2) also inched down to mark its worst year-to-year result of the season.

• On the CW, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is hoping to hold onto an 0.4 for the first time (though it may not be a particularly solid one with a 0.4 -> 0.3 breakdown). Jane the Virgin had another 0.4.

Spotted Ratings, Monday 1/25/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Superstore (1.5) adjusted up, now merely tying its timeslot low, and Scorpion (1.9) also added a tenth.

• Fox had a gangbusters start to its Monday revamp, as The X-Files (3.2) held onto over half of its enormous post-NFC Championship sampling and remained in megahit territory for a second episode. Perhaps equally impressive was how much of that crowd stuck around for the new drama Lucifer, which started at 9/8c with a highly robust 2.4 demo rating. That blew away all of Fox's other genre newbies this season and matched the September premiere of Rosewood (which led into a 6.7 episode of Empire).

• Most other networks were able to co-exist with this resurgent Fox pretty well. Supergirl (1.8) was a particular bright spot, holding even week-to-week against considerably more drama competition. It was actually Scorpion (1.8) that had more trouble, taking a two-tenth drop at 9/8c. NCIS: Los Angeles (1.5) also came down a notch at 10/9c.

• The Bachelor (2.3) also had no trouble with the added competition, hitting a new season high in week four and matching the year-ago evening. Bachelor Live (1.0) picked up a touch as well.

• NBC's comedies actually had the worst relative results against The X-Files, as Superstore (1.4) and Telenovela (0.9) were each down multiple ticks. Each will hit a new timeslot low barring an upward adjustment. But NBC had some consolation as The Biggest Loser (1.1/1.2) rebounded a bit.

• And the CW was finally back in original business on Monday, but had nothing unusual to report out of low-rated Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (0.3) and Jane the Virgin (0.4).

Spotted Ratings, Monday 1/18/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The Bachelor (2.2) and Superstore (1.7) adjusted up. The Bachelor moved into a tie with its season premiere, while Superstore was just a tenth shy of the timeslot premiere two weeks ago.

• CBS' drama Monday was back in originals, with Supergirl (1.8) and Scorpion (2.0) giving back a bit of their big spikes from two weeks ago but staying well ahead of their usual late fall numbers. NCIS: Los Angeles (1.6) matched its season high from two weeks ago.

• Most of the shows that had to face last week's college football championship got back a tenth this week, including The Bachelor (2.1) on ABC, plus NBC's still promising Superstore (1.6) and not-as-promising Telenovela (1.1).

• On the other hand, struggling The Biggest Loser (1.0) and Bachelor Live (0.9) shed a tenth. Perhaps Loser was nicked by some added unscripted competition from Fox, where a two-hour celebrity MasterChef special averaged a solid 1.5.

• A week before its female-skewing dramas return, the CW averaged a 0.4 for a Howie Mandel "Just for Laughs" special, plus 0.3 for a repeat of Whose Line Is It Anyway? 

First Two Weeks, Telenovela

Reminder: the game for Superstore is still open until 6am ET tomorrow!

WEEK ZERO (December 7 previews)
Rating: 1.4 (10:00) / 0.9 (10:30)
Lead-in: The Voice (2.8)
Competition: The Great Holiday Baking Show (0.9), NCIS: Los Angeles (1.4)

The show also aired a mostly unpromoted "original" that had previously been available online on December 28, to a 0.6 rating.

Spotted Ratings, Monday 1/11/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The Bachelor (2.0) and Scorpion (1.4) adjusted up.
• It was not a great night for college football as its title game averaged 25.667 million viewers and an 8.26 A18-49 rating (ESPN telecast only), down over 20% year-to-year on both counts. After a huge spike last year, this game basically reverted to the total viewership level of other games since the move to ESPN. But it was the lowest 18-49 rating since 2008 and the third-lowest in our 15-year records.

• The College Football Playoff Championship Game on ESPN provided a good excuse for a quiet night on broadcast, but NBC and ABC plowed through with their winter filler lineups. Perhaps with an assist from a weaker ESPN game that featured two teams in the South/Southeast, these shows held up a bit better than last year. 
• The biggest drops came from NBC's 8/7c comedies. Superstore (1.5) was still a good lead-off option but took a three-tenth hit from last week, and Telenovela (1.0) took a three-tenth hit of its own. These shows had to deal with not just game coverage but also comedy competition as CBS filled Supergirl's off night with even stronger repeats of The Big Bang Theory (1.9/1.9).
• The Biggest Loser (1.0/1.1) rounded out NBC's night with a modest decline in the last two hours.
• And on ABC, The Bachelor (2.0/1.9) dropped somewhat as well, but that actually left it up in raw numbers vs. last year's rating against the big game (when it dropped to 1.8). The after-show Bachelor Live (1.0) was even.

• The other three networks went into/stayed in repeat mode against the big game:
• CBS: The Big Bang Theory (1.9/1.9), Scorpion (1.3), NCIS: Los Angeles (1.0) 
• Fox: MasterChef Junior (0.9/0.8)
• CW: Whose Line Is It Anyway? (0.4/0.4), Penn and Teller: Fool Us (0.4)

Spotted Ratings, Monday 1/4/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Adjusting up were Superstore (1.8, now tying the average for its full one-hour preview after The Voice), Supergirl (1.9, now its best rating since week two) and Scorpion (2.2, now tying the season premiere). Bachelor Live (1.0) went down a notch.

• Winter Mondays began much better for the broadcasters than winter Sundays. On NBC, that meant a rare glimmer of hope in the comedy department. Superstore opened its Monday 8/7c run with just over 6 million viewers and a very solid 1.7 demo rating. Lead-out Telenovela (1.3) dropped noticeably from there, but was not as far off the map as it looked like it could've been in its December preview.
• But NBC did have a fairly soft start out of The Biggest Loser (1.2), 25% below its last opener in September 2014. TBL may not drop as much post-premiere since it had pre-premiere competition when it opened fall 2014, but it seems clear there's been some damage to the franchise in the last couple years.

• On ABC, The Bachelor (2.2) kept chugging along with another strong premiere, matching last year's opener. After-show Bachelor Live (1.1) had pretty bad retention at 10/9c, even if it had about the same rating as a typical Castle episode these days.

• High viewing and no Monday Night Football added up to the usual January bounty on CBS, where Supergirl (1.8), Scorpion (2.1) and NCIS: Los Angeles (1.6) all saw big surges. It was a new season high for LA, a best-since-premiere rating for Scorpion and a best-since-week-four rating for Supergirl.

• And Fox, which will mostly be punting on Mondays until The X-Files and Lucifer show up in three weeks, was still reasonable on this night with two-hour special Superhuman (1.2). The CW had another better-than-its-usual-lineup Monday with repeats of Whose Line Is It Anyway? (0.5/0.4) and Penn and Teller: Fool Us (0.4).

Best Case/Worst Case: The Bachelor, Superstore, Telenovela, The Biggest Loser

Best Case/Worst Case lays out possible scenarios for broadcast primetime TV seasons yet to premiere. Here's what's premiering tonight!

Spotted Ratings, Monday 12/28/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: NBC adjusted down to 0.9/0.6/0.8/0.6/0.4, putting the Superstore original actually behind the 8/7c repeat.
  

• After a ten-hour Nielsen delay due to a methodology change (see ShowBuzzDaily's explanation), the Monday prelims brought an all-fractional comedy night for NBC that may get even worse after finals due to a Monday Night Football preemption. It included a repeat of Superstore (0.9), a repeat of Telenovela (0.7), an original Superstore (0.9) and an original Telenovela (0.8). The "originals" had been available on demand since the shows' respective post-Voice previews 3-4 weeks ago, and given the lack of separation from the repeat numbers it seems unlikely they got much promotion. NBC also had a repeat of Blindspot (0.6) at 10/9c.

• ABC's holiday specials Happy New Year, Charlie Brown (1.1) and Rudolph's Shiny New Year (0.7) took big dips from their respective 1.5/1.0 on this night last year. (And so did the 10/9c repeat of Castle (0.5), which had a 0.8 last year.)

• CBS (all repeats): Supergirl (0.9), Scorpion (1.0), NCIS: Los Angeles (0.9)

• Fox (all repeats): Gotham (0.4), Bones (0.5)

• Once again, the CW beat its usual Monday lineup in 18-49 with repeats of Penn and Teller: Fool Us (0.5/0.5).

SpotVault - Telenovela (NBC) - 2015-16 Ratings