The True Top 25, Week Ending 5/18/14 (2013-14 Week 34)

In the last full week of the regular season, The Big Bang Theory had one last domination of the standings. A significant finale spike in one of its lowest-viewed slots of the season produced a True season high. NCIS won top drama in finale week, with its 8/7c slot grading a bit tougher than that of Criminal Minds (the top drama raw rating). Usual suspects Agents of SHIELD, The Blacklist and The Millers were the new shows on the list in the final week.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 4/27/14 (2013-14 Week 31)

The Big Bang Theory reclaimed its usual seat atop the True Top 25. Grey's Anatomy in a really tough timeslot narrowly edged post-Voice The Blacklist for the week's True top drama. The premiere of Bad Teacher made it four new shows this week, joining usual occupants Blacklist, Agents of SHIELD and The Millers.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 4/20/14 (2013-14 Week 30)

ABC's parting with Scandal for the summer, but at least it went out on top in the week 30 True Top 25, tying Monday's The Voice in raw rating and inching ahead based on timeslot difficulty. Usual chart-toppers The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family assisted in the Scandal victory by taking the week off, but their repeats still made the list in a generally slow week.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 4/13/14 (2013-14 Week 29)

We may be a month past Daylight Saving, but week 29 was at least as bad for TV ratings as that week was. And this showed up in bigger-picture ways; the downturn in overall viewing week-to-week was even more significant this week than four weeks ago, suggesting that some late winter weather may have kept ratings afloat to a certain degree in March. While this showed up in many a raw rating, it also meant that a show like NCIS that went against this gravity (getting its highest rating in five episodes, despite its lowest-viewed slot of the season) could post a really high-end True score.

The Big Bang Theory lost out to the NCAA basketball finals for the True crown this week, but it still demolished all other entertainment series. Scandal was the top drama again, edging its lead-in Grey's Anatomy and the surging NCIS. Agents of SHIELD, The Millers and the return of Resurrection represented the new shows, while Shark Tank and Saturday's NASCAR were the only weekend series.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 4/6/14 (2013-14 Week 28)

The Big Bang Theory took a very rare turn with a demo rating behind another demo program: the series finale of fellow CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother. But Big Bang is still #1 in True, and in fact by a fairly wide margin, because it was confined to only the lowest-viewed half hour on a much lower-viewed night. It seems kinda like the viewership estimate went up a little more on Monday than it "should" have, but maybe most of HIMYM's finale spike came from viewers not usually watching other TV.

With almost all big four series in originals, there were four new shows on the list this week. That's a pretty healthy number, but the raw numbers top 25 would actually include a whooping seven newbies. Friends with Better Lives, About a Boy and to a lesser extent Resurrection (just a single hundredth out of the True Top 25) were all nicked enough by the formula to drop out of this list.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 3/30/14 (2013-14 Week 27)

Modern Family was back in business this week and continues to show a little more muscle than usual in the second half of the season. Though it held off The Voice (whose Monday edition was a tick higher in raw numbers) for the True entertainment crown this week, it was denied #1 among everything by CBS' NCAA basketball coverage. The late game on Friday scored a huge 3.6 demo. The penultimate How I Met Your Mother was back in the top 5, passing last week's scripted champ Scandal (which was also up), and it will be interesting to see if its finale can pass the return of The Big Bang Theory in week 28. (TBBT will be very hard-pressed to match the 5.4 raw rating, but it will probably get a more favorable Sitch since Thursday is usually lower-viewed than Monday.)

Shark Tank was off, but Friday still got plenty of representation on this list from the two basketball games and a season high Dateline. (Last Man Standing, hitting a True season high with an impressive 1.4 on a post-DST Friday, was just a few hundreths off of the list.) The Blacklist and Resurrection were the only new shows this week as usual suspects Agents of SHIELD and The Millers sat out again.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 3/23/14 (2013-14 Week 26)

With The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family both taking the week off, it was all about The Voice in this week's True Top 25. Its Monday and Tuesday episodes were the only things to break a 3.0 demo rating in broadcast primetime all week (excluding the NCAA basketball overrun on Sunday). Scandal and How I Met Your Mother tied as the top scripted program at 2.9, with Scandal narrowly inching ahead in True. Shark Tank and 20/20 represented Friday night as usual, while Saturday's basketball game also made the cut. And The Blacklist, Resurrection and Mom were the three new shows on the list this week.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 3/9/14 (2013-14 Week 24)

For the second straight week, ABC had five of the True Top 10, this time thanks to a genuine surprise from the enormous premiere of Resurrection. This was the fifth series premiere of the 2013-14 season to hit a 3.5 or higher demo, after we had just one (Revolution) last season. Just keep this in mind when you read the "people are becoming less inclined to watch new shows" trend pieces during bad development seasons.

And it may not be a stretch to say it is the most impressive premiere rating in a very long time. It's the second-highest True for a series premiere this season, and you could argue it should be higher if the cable competition adjustment were less timid. In True, it handily out-gunned similarly raw-rated The Blacklist (Voice lead-in), The Crazy Ones (Big Bang lead-in) and Sleepy Hollow (relatively little competition). Only Agents of SHIELD started bigger, and we all know that had very good external reasons to do so.

The other stuff was pretty much as usual: The Big Bang Theory was easily the #1 broadcast program. Shark Tank and 20/20 were the Friday representatives. And The Blacklist and The Millers represented the new shows, making for a foursome alongside the impressive premieres of Resurrection and Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 3/2/14 (2013-14 Week 23)

The Olympics hiatus is finally over, and the networks came back in week 23 to varying results. ABC in particular had an up and down week; their Academy Awards topped the charts and grew year-to-year, and big returns from Grey's Anatomy and Scandal plus a season high True for Shark Tank helped the network score a whooping five of this week's True top 10. On the other hand... there were the series premieres. Even a Modern Family-fueled Mixology couldn't crack the raw numbers top 25 (t-32nd) and was way off the map in True (47th). And Mind Games (75th) had a lower True than the CW's big four programs.

The Big Bang Theory returned with its usual comfortable lead on the rest of the entertainment field, and premiere week of The Voice held off Scandal and Modern Family for the next two spots. Three new shows cracked the list, with the biggest notable being a big surge for Chicago PD in a crossover with Law and Order: SVU. Only Shark Tank and 20/20 represented Friday night, but Grimm (27th) and Hawaii Five-0 (28th) were knocking on the door.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 2/9/14 (2013-14 Week 20)

The vast majority of high-rated entertainment programs will be ducking the Winter Olympics over the next couple weeks, but this week saw most of the Monday to Thursday heavy hitters fit in one more episode. Airing against the bonus night of Olympics and American Idol, The Big Bang Theory was easily the highest-rated entertainment program. It actually had a season high in True, as the show was flat week-to-week even as the Olympics created about four more points of competition than normal but produced no discernible growth in overall viewing (at least not in the 8:00 half-hour).

Only two newbies made the cut this week, starting with The Millers (which, much like TBBT, had a good raw numbers hold despite grading out with a tougher situation) and ending with yet another low-2's for Agents of SHIELD. However, new shows did occupy four of the first seven spots outside of the top 25!

The True Top 25, Week Ending 2/2/14 (2013-14 Week 19)

Super Week's True Top 25 was bookended by the game itself and CBS' Wednesday commercials special, while The Big Bang Theory returned to the top of the entertainment programming list. The Sunday True calculations for the game and for New Girl should be taken as even more "for entertainment purposes only" than usual, as I have to do a lot of spreadsheet re-arranging to account for Fox having a four-hour primetime.

The story that continues to percolate on this list is the takeover of Friday night television. Sure, pretty much all the Tuesday (State of the Union) and Sunday (Super Bowl) regulars were sitting out in this weird week, along with several staples on other nights. But Friday still put a whooping six shows in the top 25, and Last Man Standing was 26th!

The True Top 25, Week Ending 1/26/14 (2013-14 Week 18)

Sunday Event Season continued with the Grammy Awards and Pro Bowl claiming the top two spots in this week's True Top 25. American Idol took large post-premiere slides on both Wednesday and Thursday, but the Wednesday edition held off competing Modern Family to rate highest among entertainment programs. (The Big Bang Theory is back in originals next week, though its regular slot repeat isn't that far out of the lead.)

Among the new shows, it was regulars The Blacklist and Sleepy Hollow (x2), plus the surprise return of a spiking Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The show benefited from Agents of SHIELD and NCIS both being in repeats, to be sure, but the size of its growth was a couple ticks bigger than the True formula would've expected. (Also worth noting that it eked onto the list largely due to the bar being pretty low this week as several regular lineups were off the map.)

On another big Friday for broadcast, Shark Tank and 20/20 were back on the list (and well within the raw numbers list as well); and this time, they had company in the biggest Friday episode of Bones yet. And Grimm was only about a hundredth away from making it four Friday representatives.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 1/19/14 (2013-14 Week 17)

The penultimate game of the NFL season topped this week's True Top 25, while premiere week of American Idol topped the entertainment realm with The Big Bang Theory in repeats.

Five new shows made the cut this week including the first Voice-less episode of The Blacklist, bubble comedy Mom and a return engagement for Almost Human. Season highs from Shark Tank and 20/20 represented Friday, but there were a whooping six more Friday shows in the next 16 spots below the list (including Undercover Boss at #27).

The True Top 25, Week Ending 1/12/14 (2013-14 Week 16)

A couple special events topped the first relatively normal week of 2014: CBS' NFL playoff game on Saturday and NBC's Golden Globes on Sunday. The Big Bang Theory blew all other entertainment options out of the water, while NCIS was easily the top drama even on a Tuesday with a bizarrely high PUT estimate.

A season high Shark Tank cracked the top ten, while a strong Hawaii Five-0 also made the cut to give Friday programming a second representative. And a whooping five new shows made the list, including the pilots of Chicago PD and Intelligence (at least one of which will not be making the cut going forward).

The True Top 25, Week Ending 12/15/13 (2013-14 Week Twelve)

A season-low Sunday Night Football held off The Big Bang Theory for another True Top 25 crown as most entertainment programs finished out their 2013 original runs. A surging midseason finale of Scandal was broadcast's top drama, while Fox had more representation than usual thanks to a really good Sunday for their animated comedies. The Millers joined Agents of SHIELD and Sleepy Hollow to make it a trio of new shows on the list, while Shark Tank was, as usual, the only Friday series.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 12/8/13 (2013-14 Week Eleven)

Sunday Night Football won another True Top 25, and a huge Big Ten Championship Game put the pigskin in the #2 slot as well for a second straight week. Next was top entertainment series draw The Big Bang Theory, and rounding out a very strong top four was NBC's breakthrough special The Sound of Music Live! The drama race narrowly went to Scandal in a very good week for both of the top two draws; Scandal was up a tick even with the NBC competition over three points stronger than usual from SOML, while The Blacklist's fall finale grew by two tenths over its normal level.

With a few of the top newbies sitting out, only two made the cut this week; we seem to be at a point where one of the three new CBS comedies sneaks on every week, and this time it was The Crazy Ones' turn (for the first time since week three). Shark Tank was the lone Friday representative as usual, but it just barely made it thanks to irregularly high viewing estimates on Friday.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 12/1/13 (2013-14 Week Ten)

Sunday Night Football dominated a holiday week; as last year, the Thanksgiving Thursday game had a huge True advantage over a lower-end Sunday game mostly because of the huge overall viewing difference; more than 30% more A18-49ers were watching TV on Sunday than on Thursday.

With most Wednesday/Thursday/Friday shows sitting out, Monday's The Voice was the top entertainment program, with increasingly legit-looking The Blacklist #2. How I Met Your Mother was the top sitcom. Four new shows made the cut as Mom had an eyebrow-raising surge to get on the list for the first time all season; Almost Human was just a hundredth of a point away from making it five newbies. The sole Friday/Saturday representative was CBS' very strong Garth Brooks special on Friday.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 11/24/13 (2013-14 Week Nine)

Yet another Peyton Manning game on Sunday Night Football meant yet another incredible number for the second half of the season. In fact, while this game was the fifth-biggest of the season in raw numbers, it was the Truly biggest of the season-to-date, mostly because ABC's very strong American Music Awards made Sunday night much more crowded than usual.

Between those two events was top entertainment series The Big Bang Theory, dominating the entertainment pack yet again in the closest thing we'll have to a "full-strength" TV week between now and the end of 2013. Scandal was the top drama, as True maintains the Thursday 10/9c slot is a few ticks tougher than top raw numbers drama NCIS' Tuesday 8/7c. Four new shows made the cut as The Millers scraped its way back onto the list for the first time in a few weeks, replacing a pre-empted The Blacklist. Shark Tank represented Friday night once again, but just barely in a week that saw a bunch of strong sports/specials make the cutline a bit higher than normal.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 11/17/13 (2013-14 Week Eight)

Sunday Night Football won another True Top 25 with an incredible number for the second half of the regular season, further cementing Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning as one of American culture's top ratings draws. The Big Bang Theory was back in the entertainment programming driver's seat, while Scandal re-captured the lead among dramas. A slumping Shark Tank still eked out a spot on the list, while fellow Friday offerings Undercover Boss and Grimm were each within a tenth of a point of making the cut. Though The Millers remained just off the list, we went up to four new shows represented as the NFL-inflated premiere of Almost Human made the cut (though Agents of SHIELD was fairly close to dropping off). Almost Human figures to be back next week after a decent 2.3 Monday premiere.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 11/10/13 (2013-14 Week Seven)

After just barely winning a week ago, Sunday Night Football took a major upswing this week and had a very comfortable win. The Big Bang Theory was back in the entertainment programming driver's seat, holding off a special CBS football game and the CMA Awards for the #2 spot. The most noteworthy development here was probably The Blacklist taking a turn as the week's #1 drama in True. The number getting this high is probably a product of a few coincidences: a higher-end Monday Night Football inflating the competition count, a very low PUT estimate, etc. (See also the Castle number below, itself probably a couple ticks overly high.) However, the show has held up admirably while The Voice has taken its usual in-season decline; at the very least, it's a strong enough show that it can grade out as the top drama when it "gets lucky."

A big spike from Undercover Boss gave Friday night a second representative, while we held at three new shows with The Millers dropping off the list (though it could be back, as it missed by less than a hundredth of a point).