Spotted Ratings, Saturday 12/31/16

Spotted Ratings, Weekend Roundup 11/27-11/29/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: On Sunday, Madam Secretary (1.3) and 60 Minutes (2.6) both adjusted up. Sunday Night Football had an 8.5, up a whooping 2.2 points from last Sunday.

• ABC was back in the Sunday original series game with a very weak result for Once Upon a Time (1.3), a new season/series low by multiple tenths. It wasn't quite as abnormal later in the night as Blood and Oil (0.9) returned slightly up, but Quantico (1.2) inched down to tie its series low.

• CBS' lineup started just after the 8:00 hour (finally allowing for a CSI: Cyber pre-emption!). Considering the network had a national NFL overrun, it was a fairly soft night for 60 Minutes (2.5), Madam Secretary (1.2) and The Good Wife (0.9).

• With no sweeps and no national overrun, Fox offered up a repeat night, sprinkling in math and science awards show "Breakthrough Prize" (0.4) at 7:00 and holiday special Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas (0.9) at 8:30.

• More on cable/football after finals, but part of the broadcasters' problems may have come from NBC doing even huger than usual as New England's undefeated season came to an end on Sunday Night Football. It looks like it could be up two full points or more from last week's low.

Spotted Ratings, Weekend Roundup 9/11-9/13/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• Sunday Night Football opened its Sunday run with a preliminary 9.2 rating. This is likely to eke out a double-digit rating in the finals, and it will definitely beat last year's 9.0 final for the Sunday opener.

• ABC's Miss America (1.5) was slightly down year-to-year. (My records have the 2014 edition at 1.7 but it looks like it may have adjusted down to 1.6 due to the Nielsen glitch.) 

• CBS' lineup including Big Brother (2.1) was bumped by NFL overrun. 60 Minutes and BB may not have started at their scheduled 7:30 and 8:30 times in all markets (though I think they did in mine), so let's wait for finals! 

• On Saturday, ABC averaged a preliminary 2.2 with Oregon at Michigan State football, similar to the 2.1 this game averaged last year on Fox (when it was the season high for CFB on Fox by a very wide margin).

Above based on preliminary adults 18-49 ratings unless otherwise noted. Full table forthcoming!

Spotted Ratings, Weekend Roundup 9/4-9/6/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Saturday Night Football held the preliminary 2.7, putting it 42% above last season's opener. Big Brother (1.7) and Bachelor in Paradise (1.1) both adjusted up on Sunday.

• The few Sunday broadcast originals stayed on the air for low-viewed Labor Day weekend, which was not a good thing for the ratings of Big Brother (1.6) and Bachelor in Paradise (1.0/1.1). Big Bro took a half-point week-to-week hit for this telecast last year, and it will be at least that big this time compared with last Sunday's 2.2. Bachelor in Paradise was down at least two tenths itself. A lot of the Sunday cablers also tried to power through this weekend (including TNT's The Last Ship finale), though Fear the Walking Dead sat out.

• Also on Sunday, NBC won the night with a preliminary 1.1 for four hours of NASCAR.

• Saturday brought a promising start to college football, as ABC's Wisconsin/Alabama averaged a preliminary 2.7 from 8:00 to 11:00 that will surely outrate last year's 1.9 Saturday Night Football premiere. NBC averaged a prelim 1.1 with Texas and Notre Dame.

Spotted Ratings, Weekend Roundup 8/28-8/30/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• The few Sunday originals fared well again, with Big Brother (2.1) having a shot to adjust up to tie its season high and Bachelor in Paradise (1.4/1.3) either tying or setting a new Sunday season high.

• Preseason NFL preemptions mucked up the Friday/Saturday prelims again, but Sunday night's only game was the national broadcast of Cardinals/Raiders on NBC, which averaged a 2.0 from 8:00-11:00. The Fox animated reruns (0.9/0.9/0.7/0.9/0.6) got a boost from the afternoon NFL game, including a preliminary 1.9 in the 7:00 half-hour.

Spotted Ratings, Weekend Roundup 8/21-8/23/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• CABLE UPDATE: Fear the Walking Dead broke cable premiere records with 10.1 million viewers and 6.3 million adults 18-49 (translating to a 4.9 or 5.0 demo rating). This was only about two-thirds the rating of an average episode of last season's The Walking Dead proper, but that still makes it really massive.

• On broadcast, there was a lot of preseason NFL this weekend, but it didn't stop Bachelor in Paradise (1.3) from steadying at its Sunday high point. Big Brother (2.2) would tie its season high yet again but could be affected a bit by Dallas and San Francisco preemptions. Fox's national NFL telecast on Sunday averaged a preliminary 1.7 from 8:00-10:00, which may adjust up a bit but should fall below the 2.1 on the third preseason Sunday last year. 

Spotted Ratings, Weekend Roundup 8/14-8/16/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• Big Brother preliminarily dropped to 2.0 for CBS, but CBS had overrun from the PGA Championship (averaging a prelim 1.8 in the 7:00 half-hour) which may cause alterations in the finals.

• ABC's Bachelor in Paradise (1.3) inched up again for a second straight week of Sunday growth, and Save My Life: Boston Trauma (0.7) also got a tick back after last week's drop. 

• As usual, Fox didn't get that much out of the Teen Choice Awards, which hit 0.8 for the third straight year... but that was still enough to beat NBC's Ed Sheeran special in the 8:00 hour (0.5). 

Spotted Ratings, Weekend Roundup 8/7-8/9/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Big Brother (2.2) adjusted up to tie its overall season high, and Friday's Masters of Illusion (0.4) went up to hit a new summer high. The Hall of Fame Game went up to a 3.6, up 29% year-to-year and just barely behind the 2013 game. The finale of True Detective (1.21) topped Sunday cable but significantly trailed last year's finale (1.57).

• The first data point for the NFL season was a promising one, as NBC's Hall of Fame Game (3.2) was significantly above the 2.5 preliminary for last year's game (which later adjusted up to 2.8). It'll probably end up a bit below the 3.8 from two years ago.

• Big Brother's early August heat continued with a new Sunday season high (2.1), while Bachelor in Paradise (1.2) inched up in its second Sunday episode but remained below Monday's rating. It was a rough weekend for ABC's medical documentaries as Saturday's Boston EMS (0.4) and Sunday's Save My Life: Boston Trauma (0.6) each took a hit. 

Spotted Ratings, Weekend Roundup 7/31-8/2/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Big Brother (1.9) adjusted up.

• At least so far, it doesn't seem that the heat on this summer's The Bachelorette has translated to Bachelor in Paradise. The spinoff was back for season two with a 1.0 in the 8:00 hour and a 1.1 at 9:00, down more than average from last year's 1.4 premiere and 1.4ish season average. However, since Sunday is an irregular night for the Bachelor shows, we should probably wait to see what happens with tonight's Monday episode. Week three of Save My Life: Boston Trauma (0.8) gave back last week's uptick.

• Sunday's only other broadcast original was Big Brother (1.8), which couldn't pick up any steam even as Paradise provided much less competition than previous occupant Celebrity Family Feud.

Spotted Ratings, Weekend Roundup 7/17-7/19/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• Both of the usual Sunday leaders were down a bit in the prelims, keeping the penultimate Celebrity Family Feud (2.0) a little ahead of Big Brother (1.8). BattleBots (1.3) preliminarily got back a tenth for ABC at 9/8c, while the network's latest medical documentary series Save My Life: Boston Trauma (0.8) debuted at 10/9c. These numbers were similar to what NY Med had on Thursday last season.

• NBC had a horrible pair of 0.3's for the one-hour return of Swedish import Welcome to Sweden at 8/7c. It ended last season on a similar 0.4/0.3 but had been at 0.7ish prior to that. This was much lower than the surrounding repeats of Hollywood Game Night (0.5) and American Ninja Warrior (0.8).

• Might Sweden soon join the Thursday dramas on Saturday? Those shows made their Saturday debut this weekend, with Aquarius (0.3) taking the expected hit but Hannibal (0.4) pulling off a minor miracle by retaining its usual 0.4. (It's only a minor miracle since it's still just a 0.4...)

Spotted Ratings, Weekend Roundup 7/10-7/12/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Big Brother (2.0) adjusted up and BattleBots (1.2) down. FX's The Strain (0.78) became the latest cable drama to open its new season on a new low, though this number would still put it in cable's upper echelon.

• It was the first Sunday in a few weeks without big event competition, and ABC's Celebrity Family Feud (2.1) came roaring back from a couple big declines, up a half point to the best rating since the premiere. It was already the newbie success of the summer, but this really solidified it. In the 8/7c duel, this put it back ahead of CBS' Big Brother (1.9), which also rebounded from last week. Feud's lead-out BattleBots (1.3) also inched up, but it was a much less pronounced rally.

• The Feud further proved its value as a three-hour repeat marathon averaged a 0.8 on Saturday, very good numbers by Saturday repeat standards. Friday saw the return of CW's Masters of Illusion (0.3), which matched last summer's premiere and last season's average.

Spotted Ratings, Weekend Roundup 7/3-7/5/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS: Celebrity Family Feud (1.6), but so did Big Brother (1.7) to stay in the Sunday entertainment lead. The soccer match ended up with 22.32 million viewers and a 7.0, which was massively down from what Fox reported as the time zone-adjusted fast nationals (25.4 million). On Saturday, a couple of CBS' sitcom burnoffs adjusted down to 0.3 (The Millers at 8/7c and The McCarthys at 9/8c).

• An enormous finals of the Women's World Cup overwhelmed the first half of Sunday primetime. Its preliminary 20.35 million total viewers and 6.4 A18-49 from 7:00-9:00 was more than double Tuesday's semifinal rating and more than triple the other Fox telecasts prior to the semifinal. It peaked with a whooping 7.1 in the 8:30 half hour, and postgame coverage in the 9:00 half-hour averaged a 4.7.

• Opposite another huge piece of competition, ABC's Celebrity Family Feud (1.5) took another big step down in week three, and its lead-out BattleBots (1.2) shed two tenths. Big Brother (1.6) didn't do that well by its usual standard but pulled ahead of the Feud in the 8/7c hour, and it may still be a less than average decline from last year's second Sunday if it adjusts up. NBC's NASCAR telecast was mucked up by a rain delay.

• July 4th will go down as one of the more interesting broadcast Saturdays of the summer, as annual two-hour special Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular averaged a 0.9 from 8:00 to 10:00 and another 0.9 for a 10:00 encore. This 0.9 was two tenths below last year's 1.1 on a Friday and just a tenth below the last Saturday telecast in 2009 (1.0) when it was just one hour. It'd actually be up vs. 2009 (1.1 vs. 1.0) if just comparing the 9:00 hours.

• Also on Saturday, CBS began its three-week burnoff of leftover comedy episodes. Six years ago in this situation, NBC's Kings became the first big four original to hit a 0.2, but CBS didn't make a run at any all-time broadcast record lows this year with The Millers (0.4/0.3) and The McCarthys (0.4/0.4).

Spotted Ratings, Weekend Roundup 6/26-6/28/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Added 6/19-6/21 and 6/26-6/28 tables on this post. Big Brother (1.8) adjusted up to match last year's Sunday premiere, but Celebrity Family Feud (1.9) stayed narrowly in the nightly lead with an uptick of its own. HBO saw True Detective (1.33) hold up swimmingly in week two, while The Ballers (0.89) and The Brink (0.55) each dropped close to 20%. Humans (0.53) had a pretty good start on AMC, tying last year's Turn series premiere and well ahead of anything Halt and Catch Fire has ever done.

• Celebrity Family Feud is a great lesson in how quickly the raw numbers landscape shifts. The last time this concept was tried, by NBC in summer 2008, it premiered at a 2.3 demo rating, settled at around 2.0, and was a modest performer not renewed for season two. In 2015, premiering just a tenth higher on ABC at 2.4, it's the breakout smash of the summer. It's not a huge shock that this would do better than the 2008 edition; the 2015 one has got Steve Harvey, the host who has been a godsend for the syndicated version's ratings. But it's pretty striking that the show was actually the #1 entertainment series last week. However, it took a big 25% dip to a still very good 1.8 last night. It's possible the BET Awards were rough competition for this show.

• Great as the Feud did, it shouldn't get lost that ABC had a second significant success last Sunday in another resurrected reality concept. BattleBots (1.9) retained about 80% of its lead-in in 18-49, but it was not simply riding the Feud's coattails; in fact, it skewed younger and considerably more male than its lead-in (actually building from Feud's 1.9 up to a 2.1 in M18-49). So this was a success in its own right. It also took a considerable week two drop to 1.4. But at least so far, the only bad news for ABC in this block is that they've only got it for six weeks.

• And CBS premiered its third night of Big Brother (1.7). Like the first two nights (2.1/2.1), this was down less than average from the year-ago premieres (2.3/2.3/1.8).

• The other notable from last weekend (6/19-6/21) was Fox bringing major championship golf to broadcast primetime with their newly acquired US Open. The event didn't really do much on Thursday (0.7), Friday (0.6) or Saturday (0.7), only hanging a relatively strong average for Sunday (1.3). I'm assuming these are all full-day averages, as the event was mostly much higher (upper-1's) during Sunday primetime and peaked with a 2.6 at 10:00. This weekend, Fox had the USA's quarterfinal in the Women's World Cup; its preliminary 2.0 on Friday improved on the 1.6/1.8 for group stage games in Fox primetime.

• On June 21 cable, a fresh cast on True Detective (1.42) had a strong return, just behind the huge season one finale (1.57) and miles ahead of everything else from season one (including the 0.97 series premiere). TNT's The Last Ship averaged a 0.69 for its two-hour return, considerably below the low-1's throughout season one.

Spotted Ratings, Weekend Roundup 6/19-6/21/15

Out of town this week, but here's an open thread for last night's ratings. My thoughts and full table to come later.

Premiered last night: Celebrity Family Feud (ABC) | BattleBots (ABC) | plus cable notables True Detective (HBO) & The Last Ship (TNT)

Spotted Ratings, Weekend Roundup 6/12-6/14/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Game 5 of the Finals adjusted up to 7.6, tying Game 4 as a series high. HBO got a nice finale spike out of Game of Thrones (4.14), which nearly got all the way back to the series high for the season premiere (4.19 on 4/12/15). GoT had been down year-to-year since the halfway point of the season, but this point was 9% above last year's finale.

• Sports dominated another three nights of broadcast primetime:
• On Friday, the second USA match in the Women's World Cup averaged a preliminary 1.5 for Fox from 8:00 to 10:00. It should be up from the USA opener last Monday on Fox Sports 1 (1.28).
• Saturday saw the NHL return to NBC (1.5) after moving to NBCSN for a couple games. The prelim for Game 5 was slightly below last Saturday's preliminary 1.7.
• And Sunday had Game 5 of the NBA Finals on ABC. The 6.2 preliminary 18-49 average from 8:00 to 11:00 was just barely above the average in the same period last Sunday. The household overnight hit another new series high 14.2.

• In entertainment land, Golan the Insatiable (0.6) and American Odyssey (0.5) inched up from last week's lows. ABC has some premieres next week!

Spotted Ratings, Weekend Roundup 6/5-6/7/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE:
• The NBA Finals Game 2 on Sunday adjusted up to 19.17 million viewers and 7.4 demo rating, up a whooping 23% from Game 2 last season. This was the biggest Game 2 in viewership since 1998, and the biggest Game 2 demo in my 14 years of records.
• Also on Sunday, The Tony Awards (1.0) avoided going sub-1 for the first time, and a few of the Fox comedies including Golan the Insatiable (0.5) also went up. Game of Thrones had a very impressive 3.65 for HBO.
• On Saturday, the Stanley Cup Finals adjusted up to 1.9, tying Game 1. Friday's What Would You Do? (1.1) and Whose Line Is It Anyway? (0.5) adjusted up while The Messengers (0.2) was down.

• ABC got overtime once again for Game 2 of the NBA Finals, which averaged a preliminary 6.1 A18-49 rating from 8:00 to 11:00. This was up from a 5.0 prelim average in the same period last year, which later adjusted up to 6.0. This game started an hour earlier so it may not adjust up as much as the Thursday game, but the time zone-adjusted household overnight was very similar to Thursday's Game 1 (which ended up with a 6.9 final).

• ABC's dominance left little for everyone else. The Tony Awards on CBS (0.9) preliminarily dipped below 1.0 for what is likely the first time ever. And scripted originals A.D. The Bible Continues (0.7), American Odyssey (0.4) and Golan the Insatiable (0.4) all got crushed. 

• Friday's winner was the NBC re-air of the film Jurassic Park (1.2), which had pretty great numbers by movie standards the week before Universal's new installment Jurassic World is released in theaters. Meanwhile, What Would You Do? (1.0) came back to earth for ABC, but a very good showing from 20/20 (1.4) made up for it.

• Saturday was all about NBC's Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, which started before primetime but had a prelim 1.7 for the two primetime hours. I'll update after finals.

Spotted Ratings, Weekend Roundup 5/29-5/31/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UDPATE: NBC's Saturday NHL hockey went up to 1.5. HBO had a significant rebound from Memorial weekend with Game of Thrones (3.45).

• On Sunday, Fox got no interest in Golan the Insatiable (0.6), an import from Fox's late night animation block that led out of Family Guy (0.9). A.D. The Bible Continues (0.9) and American Odyssey (0.5) had minor rebounds for NBC.

• Friday saw the return of newsmagazine Primetime: What Would You Do? (1.2) in solid fashion. This was down a tenth from the summer premiere last season and built noticeably on its lead-in from a Shark Tank repeat (0.9). CW's volatile Whose Line Is It Anyway? shot back up to 0.5 for the 8:00 original.

• Saturday was all about NBC, which had Game 7 of the NHL Western Conference finals (preliminary 1.3).

Spotted Ratings, Memorial Weekend Roundup 5/22-5/24/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• Saturday saw a couple decent sports results, as NBC's Game 4 of the NHL Western Conference Finals (0.9) was up a tenth from the year ago NBC game, while Fox opened its summer Baseball Night in America franchise (0.6) up two tenths from last year's premiere (and tying last year's season high).

• Sunday saw NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 (1.4) down a couple tenths year-to-year. Memorial Sunday is far less-viewed than any Sunday in the regular season, which meant originals of A.D. The Bible Continues (0.7), American Odyssey (0.4) and Battle Creek (0.6) did "well" to stay kinda steady. HBO's Game of Thrones was not so lucky in plummeting to a 2.5, the show's lowest rating since season three.

Spotted Ratings, Saturday 5/16/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• With ABC airing an extra hour of The Bachelorette on Tuesday, the usual DWTS finale night recap (0.5) got pushed to Saturday, where it did less than a third of last spring's Tuesday rating (1.7). It aired alongside a little-watched Billboard Music Awards preview (0.4). Cable once again had the top Saturday network, this time with NASCAR on Fox Sports 1 (0.82).

Spotted Ratings, Saturday 5/9/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• Broadcast primetime finally got a taste of the NBA Playoffs, as ABC's Warriors/Grizzlies game (1.9) was just a tenth behind the ABC game on the same night last season.