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? 

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)

SpotVault - The Biggest Loser (NBC) - Winter 2016 Ratings

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!

War of 18-49 Update, The Biggest Loser (2014-15)

Let's take a look at the 2014-15 season (the sixteenth overall) of The Biggest Loser 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 12/18/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: With Thursday Night Football hitting a runaway season low (just a 1.6 on NFL Network) in two small markets, adjustments were minimal. Only Elementary (1.3) and the 8:00 Bones repeat adjusted down. That meant Mom (2.3) finished at a noticeable 0.3 points higher than its last episode after a repeat two weeks ago.

• Pending preemptions, CBS' Mom (2.3) and Two and a Half Men (1.9) took hits with a repeat lead-in from The Big Bang Theory (2.3), while The McCarthys (1.6) and Elementary (1.4) were even. These numbers may adjust down a bit due to a Jacksonville football preemption.

• These numbers came against virtually no competition on the other networks. NBC saw The Biggest Loser (0.9) get into truly disastrous territory, and it led into an unwatched new awards show called the People Magazine Awards (0.8). But somehow that combo was still enough for second place against ABC with The Taste (0.8) and Fox with Bones repeats (0.8 pending a preemption). Compared to these stinkers, the CW looked like a winner with the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball special (0.6), up a tenth year-to-year.

• Programming note: I won't be doing updates based on preliminary ratings for the next two weeks, but I'll have a few roundup posts as the finals trickle in. Happy holidays!

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 12/11/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The finals were not too harsh to CBS adjustment-wise, leaving the network with some pretty favorable numbers in spite of a new season low for The Big Bang Theory (3.9). Mom (2.6) tied its season/series high, Two and a Half Men (2.3) and The McCarthys (1.6) both zoomed up to near their premiere numbers and Elementary (1.4) hit a new season high. The CW's night brightened further as The Vampire Diaries upticked to 0.9, putting both its dramas at a tie for their season highs. But Bones got no finals help, so the new season low 1.2 sticks.

• As usual, any observations about Thursday's top-ranked lineup on CBS (including the return of The Big Bang Theory in originals) will have to wait for finals due to preemptions in both of the Thursday Night Football markets.

• Though there's not much Thursday competition these days, not many shows stepped up:
• NBC's regular series in the first two hours were back for the first time in three weeks; The Biggest Loser (1.1) tied its season low at 8/7c, though Bad Judge (1.1) hopped up in its first episode without Scandal competition. (Hey, maybe the Shonda audience would've been interested in a Kate Walsh comedy after all!) 
• ABC's The Taste (0.8) inched down in week two.
• Bones had another preliminary new low 1.2 (though the last one ended up adjusting up), while the Gracepoint finale (0.9) was even with last week but slightly above most of the middle of the run.
• The CW perhaps fared best of all, as the fall finales of The Vampire Diaries (0.8) and Reign (0.5) were each up a tenth.

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).