The Breakdown: ABC Tuesday in 2017-18 (Roseanne, The Middle, Black-ish and more!)

It's time for a journey through the ABC Tuesday schedule in 2017-18...

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 12/12/17

WHAT MATTERS:

• Numbers and analysis coming shortly.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 12/5/17

FINALS UPDATE: NCIS (R) (0.9) and Chicago Med (1.2) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• In the middle of their Thursday Night Football hiatus, NBC comedies Will and Grace (1.8) and Superstore (1.1) returned for Christmas episodes leading out of The Voice (1.8), and both did pretty close to their usual deliveries on Thursday. With a reduced lead-in, Chicago Med (1.1) shed a couple tenths at 10/9c.

• ABC's lineup returned after sitting out last week and mostly sitting out two weeks ago, and it was not a good look overall; The Middle (1.2), Fresh Off the Boat (0.9), Black-ish (1.0) as well as newbies The Mayor (0.7) and Kevin (Probably) Saves the World (0.6) all tied their Halloween lows.

• Fox's Lethal Weapon (1.0), The Mick (0.8) and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (0.7) all matched last week, meaning the comedies held onto their upticks. On the CW, Legends of Tomorrow (0.6) was the first of the superhero shows to show a little growth vs. two weeks ago before the crossover, while The Flash was back down to 0.8. CBS (0.8/0.7/0.6) was in repeat mode, including a SEAL Team tryout in the 9:00 hour.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 11/14/17

FINALS UPDATE: Fresh Off the Boat (1.1), Kevin (Probably) Saves the World (0.7) and The Flash (1.0) adjusted up while Bull (1.1) and Law and Order True Crime (0.9) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• It was a slightly up Tuesday for all things NBC, from The Voice (2.0) to This Is Us (2.6) to the finale of Law and Order True Crime (1.0).

• Meanwhile, ABC had a couple downticks, including The Middle (1.3) at 8/7c and a more crucial one for Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, which was back to its 0.6 low from two weeks ago (when it was against the World Series). The other comedies were even, leaving The Mayor at 0.7 for the third week in a row.

• On CBS, NCIS: New Orleans (1.1) was up a tenth while the other two dramas were steady (1.5/1.2). Everything on the other two networks matched last week, which meant The Mick was stuck at 0.7 again.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 11/7/17

FINALS UPDATE: The Middle (1.4) adjusted up while The Mayor (0.7) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• After a brutal Halloween/World Series combo last Tuesday, the broadcasters got most of the way back to normal this week. That included a 0.5 rebound for chart-topper This Is Us (2.5), but it's still going to finish at least a couple tenths behind its lowest pre-Halloween point of the season. The penultimate episode of Law and Order True Crime (0.9) was also on the uptick.

• On CBS, it was a best-since-season-premiere night for NCIS (1.5), leading into Bull (1.2) and NCIS: New Orleans (1.0) which were at more typical levels.

• The only down show of the night was The Mick (0.7), returning from two weeks off due to the World Series and eyeing a season low. Brooklyn Nine-Nine remained mired at 0.6, but Lethal Weapon (1.0) was up a notch.

• On ABC, everything was up a tenth from last week: The Middle (1.3), Fresh Off the Boat (1.0), Black-ish (1.1), The Mayor (0.8) and Kevin (Probably) Saves the World (0.7).

• The CW's The Flash (0.9) also got back to normal after a soft showing last week, as did Legends of Tomorrow (0.5).

Renewology: November Sweeps Bubble Watch (Comedy Edition)

It's time to talk about some bubble shows! Check out yesterday's drama post.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 10/31/17

FINALS UPDATE: The Middle (1.2) and World Series (6.0) adjusted up while Law and Order True Crime (0.7) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Halloween converged with a monstrous Game 6 of the World Series (4.9/5.0/5.5), leading to a slew of ratings declines on the other broadcasters. This game should probably be expected to adjust up a little more than usual, since it ended before midnight ET/9:00 PT.

• The worst decline came from This Is Us (2.0) on NBC, since it had the added triple whammy of a The Voice recap special (1.0) as a lead-in. Its newbie lead-out Law and Order True Crime (0.8) was down two tenths, mimicking The Brave's drop on Monday. 

• CBS was down two tenths across the board with NCIS (1.2), Bull (1.0) and NCIS: New Orleans (0.9). ABC's 8:00 hour of The Middle (1.1) and Fresh Off the Boat (0.9) was also down two tenths, but the remaining programs Black-ish (1.0), The Mayor (0.7) and Kevin (Probably) Saves the World (0.6) lost just one.

• The second-biggest drop on broadcast came from CW's The Flash (0.7), which was down three tenths after a great showing last week. Its lead-out Legends of Tomorrow (0.4) shed one tenth.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 10/24/17

FINALS UPDATE: Fresh Off the Boat (1.1), Kevin (Probably) Saves the World (0.7), This Is Us (2.8) and World Series (3.9) adjusted up while Law and Order True Crime (1.0) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• The World Series opened on Fox with a low-3 prelim from 8:00 to 10:30. It shouldn't come as much surprise that this is massively down from last year (Game 1 had a 5.4 prelim/5.6 final), which was a true banner year for baseball, but it may have trouble even getting to the low end of Game 1 ratings historically. (My lowest on record was a 3.4 in 2014, then a 3.6 in 2006 and 2012.) Worth noting we may see these games adjust up more because there's a West Coast team involved.

• The good news in a lower-rated World Series is it probably won't have too much impact on the competition. But a notable exception on opening night may have been ABC's middling drama Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, which took a crucial crash to 0.6 in week four after pulling off a steady 0.8 last week. The ABC comedies all matched last week with the exception of Fresh Off the Boat (1.0), which was down a tick.

• Like on Monday, NBC was down a couple tenths or so with The Voice (1.9), and This Is Us (2.7) followed it downward. At 10/9c, Law and Order True Crime will hope to hold onto its preliminary 1.1 this time after adjusting down last week.

• CBS' dramas were all even, and the CW (which has a history of getting dinged by the Series) actually got an uptick from The Flash (1.0) and a steady Legends of Tomorrow (0.5).

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 10/17/17

FINALS UPDATE: NCIS (1.4), The Voice (2.2) and This Is Us (2.9) adjusted up while Black-ish (1.1) and Law and Order True Crime (1.0) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• The ABC comedy lineup mostly continued moving downward in its third week, with a particularly rough point for 9:30 newbie The Mayor (0.8) as it shed two more tenths. Anchors The Middle (1.3) and Black-ish (1.2) were down a tenth in the prelims, while Fresh Off the Boat (1.1) stabilized after taking the biggest drop last week. At 10/9c, drama Kevin (Probably) Saves the World kept itself in contention by hanging at 0.8 in week three, this time matching its Mayor lead-in.

• On NBC, the slippage stopped in week four for This Is Us (2.8), and with a 2.9 -> 2.8 breakdown it looks likely to be up week-to-week in the finals. That was a good point since its lead-in The Voice (2.1) was down at least two tenths from last week. Law and Order True Crime remained at 1.1 at 10/9c.

• CBS saw another drop from NCIS (1.3), but its lead-outs Bull (1.2) and NCIS: New Orleans (1.1) stayed surprisingly close by.

• Fox's Brooklyn Nine-Nine (0.6) gave back last week's uptick, while Lethal Weapon (0.9) also inched down. The Mick was even at 0.8.

• And on the CW, both The Flash (0.9) and Legends of Tomorrow (0.5) were down from last week's premieres.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 10/10/17

FINALS UPDATE: Bull (1.3), The Voice (2.4), Lethal Weapon (1.0), The Mick (0.8) and The Flash (1.1) adjusted up while NCIS: New Orleans (1.0) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• In week two for ABC Tuesday, The Middle (1.4), Black-ish (1.3), The Mayor (1.0) and Kevin (Probably) Saves the World (0.8) were all down two tenths from last week's premieres. Fresh Off the Boat (1.1), after barely ekeing out a 1.4 in finals last week, was down three. Those are not huge week two drops for newbies Mayor and Kevin, but not exactly promising either since they were both pretty mediocre to begin with.

• Night two of the CW's fall rollout saw the season premiere of The Flash (1.0), down three tenths year-to-year, while Legends of Tomorrow (0.6) continued to do its thing at 9/8c, matching last year's Thursday premiere.

• It was a rough night on Fox, where Lethal Weapon (0.9) and The Mick (0.7) both shed two tenths after holding up decently last week. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (0.7) tried to keep itself in the conversation by matching Mick this week.

• NBC led the way again with steady The Voice (2.3) and Law and Order: True Crime (1.1) sandwiching another 10%ish drop from This Is Us (2.8).

• And the CBS lineup stabilized this week, with NCIS (1.4) and Bull (1.2) both even while NCIS: New Orleans (1.1) upticked into a tie for the preliminary lead at 10/9c.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 10/3/17

FINALS UPDATE: Fresh Off the Boat (1.4) and The Voice (2.3) adjusted up while Law and Order True Crime (1.1) and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (0.6) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• The ABC Tuesday lineup came on the scene a week late, with the final season of The Middle (1.6) leading the way in healthy fashion. After Fresh Off the Boat (1.3) at 8:30, Black-ish (1.5) moved to a new night and appears fairly anchor-worthy so far. However, there was pretty mediocre premiere retention for its new comedy lead-out The Mayor (1.2) at 9:30. At 10/9c, drama newbie Kevin (Probably) Saves the World (1.0) was not exactly dazzling, but certainly not as hopeless as Sunday's Ten Days in the Valley.

• On NBC, This Is Us (3.1) shed close to 20% from last week's series high premiere, but its lead-out Law and Order True Crime (1.2) was crushed even harder. Even The Voice (2.2) was down at least a few tenths for the network.

• CBS' NCIS (1.4) and Bull (1.2) were both down from last week's premieres, but NCIS: New Orleans (1.0) held steady. And on Fox, comedies The Mick (0.9) and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (0.7) both matched last week while Lethal Weapon (1.1) was down a notch.

SpotVault - The Mayor (ABC) - 2017-18 Ratings