The Breakdown: Fox Tuesday in 2018-19 (The Gifted, MasterChef Junior, Lethal Weapon and more!)

It's time for a journey through the Fox Tuesday schedule in 2018-19...

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 2/26/19

FINALS UPDATE: FBI (1.0) adjusted up while The Gifted (0.4) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC used its Tuesday premiere of The Voice (2.0) to launch a two-hour preview of World of Dance (1.4), before the former summer reality series makes the move to its regular Sunday timeslot at the end of the week. WoD was down just a bit in Plus from its season two premiere (1.7) after America's Got Talent (2.5).

• Finale night for Fox's Tuesday drama duo (0.7/0.5) saw Lethal Weapon inch back down to its usual 0.7.

• ABC had an uptick from its first three sitcoms, American Housewife (1.0), The Kids Are Alright (0.8) and Black-ish (0.8), but Splitting Up Together and The Rookie were stuck at 0.6. CBS (1.2/0.9/0.8) was even across the board, while Roswell, New Mexico fell to its first 0.2 leading out of a repeat of The Flash (0.2).

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 2/19/19

FINALS UPDATE: Roswell, New Mexico (R) (0.1) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• This Is Us (1.8) had a rebound after last week's low, while its lead-in Ellen's Game of Games (1.4) was down a notch. NCIS (1.2) and FBI (0.9) were both down, as was Black-ish (0.7) (the lone mover on ABC). On Fox, Lethal Weapon (0.8) looked a little better than usual, pulling off its first 0.8 since week two of the season.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 2/12/19

FINALS UPDATE: NCIS (1.4) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• ABC finally got a look at its full post-The Conners Tuesday. American Housewife (0.9) was up a tenth from last week's timeslot premiere on State of the Union night, while The Kids Are Alright (0.7) matched last week. Then Black-ish (0.8), Splitting Up Together (0.6) and The Rookie (0.6) were back for the first time in three weeks; Black-ish and Splitting matched that night, but The Rookie fell to 0.6 for just the second time (and the first time was when it had a delayed start on January 8).

• NBC's This Is Us (1.7) was also back from multiple weeks off, and fell pretty hard to a new series low. Ellen's Game of Games (1.5) had a small rebound from its SOTU airing last week, while New Amsterdam (1.0) was even with three weeks ago.

• On CBS, NCIS (1.3) had its first original in four weeks, and was even, while FBI (1.0) got back on track after a hiccup following Celebrity Big Brother three weeks ago. Fox (0.7/0.5) was even while CW's The Flash (0.6) preliminarily dropped to end a three-week run of 0.7's.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 1/22/19

FINALS UPDATE: Celebrity Big Brother (1.3) and The Flash (0.7) adjusted up while The Kids Are Alright (0.8) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Finale night for The Conners (1.5) saw a nice two-tenth bump for the series, and its lead-out The Kids Are Alright (0.9) was also up a notch. The growth ended there for ABC; Black-ish (0.8) and The Rookie (0.7) were even, sandwiching a down Splitting Up Together (0.6).

• Night two of Celebrity Big Brother (1.2) was two tenths lower than the Monday premiere. Though it had similar raw numbers to usual occupant NCIS, it was far less compatible with FBI (0.8), and that show plummeted to a new low at 9/8c. NCIS: New Orleans stayed at 0.8.

• Week two stayed promising for Roswell, New Mexico, which hung onto a 0.4 leading out of The Flash's 0.6 for the second straight week. (Roswell was down a tick in A18-34 and A25-54, and by about 20% in total viewers, so it may have taken some hit in the un-rounded.)

• NBC was down a tenth from last week with Ellen's Game of Games (1.6) and This Is Us (1.9), while The Gifted remained at 0.5 after a repeat of Lethal Weapon (0.5).

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 1/15/19

FINALS UPDATE: New Amsterdam (1.0) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• After 0.5, 0.3 and 0.2 for its series premieres in the fall, the CW added a 0.4 to the mix with new drama Roswell, New Mexico (0.4). It was a couple tenths behind its The Flash lead-in (0.6), making it a much less impressive premiere than what Black Lightning did here a year ago, but it was at the high end of what Black Lightning season two has been doing in the fall.

• NBC completed its winter lineup with the return of This Is Us (2.0) at 9/8c; while it was down a notch from the fall finale, it seemed to help out Ellen's Game of Games (1.7), which grew two tenths from last week's season premiere. New Amsterdam (1.1) was up a notch at 10/9c, matching what it was doing after TIU in the late fall.

• ABC was down in the 8/7c hour with The Conners (1.3) and especially with The Kids Are Alright (0.8), but Black-ish (0.8) and Splitting Up Together (0.7) matched last week's address-delayed ratings. Back to airing on time, The Rookie (0.7) was up a tenth.

• CBS' NCIS (1.3) grew a tenth from last week, while the delayed returns of FBI (1.0) and NCIS: New Orleans (0.8) both matched their fall finales. Fox's Lethal Weapon stayed at 0.7 while The Gifted dropped back to 0.5.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 1/8/19

FINALS UPDATE: Black-ish (0.8) and The Gifted (0.6) adjusted up while NCIS: New Orleans (R) (0.5) adjusted down. (The address ratings were not released in finals; the prelims are still listed below.)

WHAT MATTERS:

• The 8:00 hour saw the original return of last winter's unscripted smash Ellen's Game of Games (1.5). It took the victory in a tough 8/7c hour, but still looked to have softened even relative to its lowest points last winter. It was up against ABC's The Conners (1.4, matching its fall finale) and The Kids Are Alright (1.0, up a tenth), CBS' NCIS (1.2, down a tenth) and Fox's Lethal Weapon (0.7, matching last week).
  

• Then a presidential address and Democratic response threw a wrench into the 9:00 half-hour. The 20ish-minute interruption meant that ABC's Black-ish (0.7), Splitting Up Together (0.7) and The Rookie (0.6) along with Fox's The Gifted (0.5) all started late and aired in their entirety. The prelims do not match up exactly with when these shows aired, so stay tuned for finals.

• CBS took a different approach, pulling its scheduled originals of FBI and NCIS: New Orleans in favor of repeats (0.6/0.6). And NBC took a bit of a hybrid path, pulling the planned 9:00 original of Game of Games for a repeat joined in progress (1.4), but still airing an original New Amsterdam (1.0) at 10/9c.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 1/1/19

FINALS UPDATE: No adjustments.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Fox was the only network airing original material on the first night of 2019, flipping the timeslots of Tuesday dramas Lethal Weapon (0.7) and The Gifted (0.5). For Lethal, it marked a return to the 8/7c hour that it occupied for all of last season, and it remained in line with recent episodes. Meanwhile, Gifted fell to a new low in its 9/8c debut.

• Among all the repeats elsewhere, Ellen's Game of Games (1.0) towered over the competition, a week before its return to originals, while ABC's 8/7c The Conners (0.7) was a distant second.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 12/4/18

FINALS UPDATE: NCIS: New Orleans (0.9) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• On the first Tuesday after This Is Us and New Amsterdam wrapped for the fall, NBC was down from last week in both their timeslots with a two-hour Saturday Night Live Christmas special (1.1/0.9). Last year, the SNL Christmas special aired on December 21 and got a 1.2.

• Despite weaker competition, ABC's lineup lost a tenth across the board with The Conners (1.3), The Kids Are Alright (0.8), Black-ish (0.8), Splitting Up Together (0.6) and The Rookie (0.7). CBS' NCIS (1.2), FBI (1.0) and NCIS: New Orleans (0.8) all matched their last originals two weeks ago, and Fox was also even with The Gifted (0.7) and Lethal Weapon (0.7). The CW's The Flash (0.7) was the lone upticker.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 11/27/18

FINALS UPDATE: This Is Us (2.1) and The Gifted (0.7) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• The post-Thanksgiving upswing for broadcast continued into Tuesday, at least to some extent. NBC got another night of growth for The Voice (1.5) and a return to the twos for the This Is Us fall finale (2.0), while New Amsterdam (1.1) was even.

• ABC's The Conners (1.4) and The Kids Are Alright (0.9) matched last week's lows, but Black-ish (0.9), Splitting Up Together (0.7) and The Rookie (0.8) were all up a notch. Fox's Lethal Weapon (0.7) also pulled off an uptick.

• Repeats continued on CBS, starting with holiday classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1.7) at 8/7c which was down two tenths from last year. The CW (0.6/0.3) matched last week.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 11/13/18

WHAT MATTERS:

• Back after a week of election preemptions, ABC's Tuesday lineup looked less like the Halloween-boosted one of two weeks ago, and more like what they did three weeks ago... if not even worse. The Conners (1.5) and The Kids Are Alright (1.0) both hit new lows, while Black-ish (1.0) lost just one tenth and Splitting Up Together (0.7) fell two tenths to tie its week two rating. The Rookie dropped to 0.7 for the first time at 10/9c.

• On NBC, New Amsterdam (1.1) took a hit at 10/9c, while The Voice (1.6) and This Is Us (2.0) were even to narrowly down.

• CBS had the best return from preemption, with NCIS (1.4) and FBI (1.1) both rising from two weeks ago. 

• And Fox's The Gifted and Lethal Weapon were back down to 0.6, after growing with no entertainment competition a week ago. The CW's The Flash (0.6) is eyeing a new season low, though it's already adjusted up from 0.6 to 0.7 twice this season.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 11/6/18

FINALS UPDATE: ABC News 2018 Midterm Election (1.2), CBS News: Election Night (0.8), The Vote: America's Future (1.3) and The Flash (R) (0.2) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC (1.4), ABC (1.3) and CBS (0.9) all devoted a full three hours to coverage of the midterm elections.

• The CW (0.3/0.2) went into repeats, leaving Fox's The Gifted (0.7) and Lethal Weapon (0.7) as the only original entertainment programs on broadcast. Both were (unless preempted for local elections coverage) up a little.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 10/30/18

FINALS UPDATE: The Flash (0.7) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• It was a promising week three for ABC's Tuesday comedies, as The Conners (1.8) pulled off an uptick while The Kids Are Alright (1.3), Black-ish (1.1) and Splitting Up Together (0.9) were all up multiple tenths. At 10/9c, The Rookie remained at 0.8.

• CBS was mostly up, though not quite as much with the NCIS twins (1.3/0.9) surrounding an even FBI (1.0). NBC was closer to even overall with The Voice (1.6) and This Is Us (2.1), while New Amsterdam (1.3) gave back part of last week's spike.

• Fox dramas The Gifted (0.6) and Lethal Weapon (0.6) were back on the air after an early end to the World Series, while the CW had a down night with The Flash (0.6) and Black Lightning (0.3).

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 10/16/18

FINALS UPDATE: The Conners (2.4), The Voice (1.8) and The Flash (0.7) adjusted up while Black-ish (1.0) and Splitting Up Together (0.9) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Roseanne spin-off The Conners (2.3) brought a spark to ABC Tuesday, but it fell behind the low point of the Roseanne revival (which ended on a 2.5 in May). It was unable to top The Big Bang Theory's premiere (2.5) for the top comedy episode of the season to date, though it still tied last week's TBBT for second best.

• Following The Conners was new comedy The Kids Are Alright (1.4), which got about what you would expect from a typical episode of The Middle with the big lead-in last year. Black-ish (1.1) was a little down from its late spring ratings last year, while sophomore Splitting Up Together (1.0) managed to tie its finale. At 10/9c was the launch of older-skewing Nathan Fillion drama The Rookie (1.0), which tied last year's Kevin (Probably) Saves the World premiere, beat last year's For the People premiere (0.8), and was a notch below where A Million Little Things (1.1) began on Premiere Wednesday.

• Opposite ABC's return, there was some downward movement on CBS with the NCIS twins (1.2/0.8) surrounding a steady FBI (1.0), and on NBC with The Voice (1.7) and This Is Us (2.2) down a tenth and New Amsterdam (1.2) down two. Fox's The Gifted fell to its first 0.6, and the CW's The Flash (0.6) and Black Lightning (0.3) had somewhat sizable post-premiere drops.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 10/9/18

WHAT MATTERS:

• After over a decade on Sunday and 15 straight years airing in late November, the American Music Awards (1.8) moved to early October, airing on a Tuesday for the first time since 2006. Preliminarily, they were down about 25% from last year's 2.4 (which matched the previous year's 2.4).

• The CW made its usual late return to the broadcast stage, with The Flash (0.8) down three tenths from last year's premiere but tying last year's finale (and beating most of the second half of last season). It was a rougher return for Black Lightning (0.4), opening on a new series low.

• On AMA's night, there were mostly even to narrowly down results on the big four. CBS' FBI (1.0) took the only multiple-tenth downturn, even as its lead-in NCIS (1.4) remained resilient, while NCIS: New Orleans (0.9) was down one tenth.  NBC's trio of The Voice (1.8), This Is Us (2.3) and New Amsterdam (1.4) was even to down a tenth, while Fox's Lethal Weapon (0.7) inched down as well.

Renewology: Week Two Developments

Here's a look at what's new and what's changed in week two.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 10/2/18

FINALS UPDATE: New Amsterdam (1.5) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• The promising new dramas on Premiere Tuesday stayed promising in week two. NBC's New Amsterdam (1.6) at least preliminarily dropped just two tenths from last week (or three tenths from last week's prelims). That would be a much smaller week-to-week drop than even its lead-in This Is Us (2.4) took, though that could change in finals; they'd have about the same drop if they end up at 2.5/1.5. After growing on Monday #2, The Voice (1.8) took a hit on Tuesday #2.

• On CBS, FBI (1.2) was down just a tenth in week two, matching the year-ago week two of Bull. The night remained surprisingly healthy in general for CBS, as NCIS (1.4) and NCIS: New Orleans (1.0) both matched last week's premieres (as well as the year-ago evening).

• Fox Tuesday took a turn in week two as The Gifted crashed to 0.7 in its second outing, while Lethal Weapon stayed at 0.8 and now built from its lead-in.

• ABC stayed off the map on the last Tuesday before the American Music Awards, churning out another two hours of the crumbling Dancing with the Stars (0.7/0.8) plus an encore of A Million Little Things (0.5).

Renewology: The Premiere Week Rundown

Happy October! Here are some observations about a selection of shows that have aired in the first five days of the TV season. If you're looking for some more reading about Renewology, here's my update from Friday on what has changed in the model this year.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 9/25/18

FINALS UPDATE: The Voice (2.2) and This Is Us (3.0) adjusted up while New Amsterdam (1.8) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Premiere Tuesday, much like Premiere Monday, was highlighted by a strong NBC drama launch in the 10/9c hour. This time, it was medical drama New Amsterdam (1.9), going three tenths above the year-ago opener for Law and Order True Crime (1.6). While not quite a breakout on the level of Monday's Manifest, it's once again made more impressive by the fact that the lead-in was much reduced year-to-year; This Is Us (2.9) was off by about a quarter from last year's series high opener. (It was still a great return for TIU, which hasn't hit these levels on Tuesday since October of last year. The Voice (2.1) also ticked up from its somewhat mediocre start on Monday. )

• There was also, like Premiere Monday, a CBS drama premiere at 9/8c, but this one went better; Dick Wolf's FBI (1.3) actually managed to outrate the Monday opener of Magnum P.I. (1.2), and also tied Bull's highest rating in the timeslot last year. Surrounding it were NCIS (1.4) and NCIS: New Orleans (1.0), which looked fairly healthy on a year-to-year basis.

• Fox had a drama duo on premiere Tuesday, young-skewing sophomore The Gifted (0.9) and the third-season premiere of Lethal Weapon (0.8) with a new lead. It will be tough for these shows to survive into whatever New Fox is next year, but they have not taken themselves totally out of the mix at least on premiere night.

• And ABC continued its slow start to the season with another two sluggish hours of Dancing with the Stars (0.9) and a weak 20/20 special at 10/9c (0.5).

SpotVault - The Gifted (Fox) - Fall 2018 Ratings