WHAT MATTERS:
- The second half of the CW's The Flash / Arrow crossover was the more explosive one, as Arrow (1.4) vaulted to a new series high (and up by a whooping half point vs. its last episode). This is the rating that normal episodes of The Flash have been getting, which is huge.
- NBC was stronger than usual with specials Christmas in Rockefeller Center (1.9) and Saturday Night Live Christmas (1.9). However, both of these specials declined considerably from last year (when they hit 2.3/2.6 respectively).
- These NBC specials may have contributed to a great deal of ugliness elsewhere; after all, ABC also had a very bad night on this same Wednesday last year. But it was at least as poor again this time, with The Middle (1.6), The Goldbergs (1.7), Modern Family (2.8) and Black-ish (2.1) all at least 10% below their previous season lows. CBS was also soft with two hours of Survivor (2.1/2.0) and Stalker (1.5) failing to bounce back from their Thanksgiving Eve ratings. And Fox's Hell's Kitchen (1.2) and Red Band Society (0.9) were also on the low end (though at least above the Thanksgiving Eve deliveries).
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: The Flash (1.6) adjusted up, now up 0.2 week-to-week and hitting its best rating since week two. Chicago Fire (1.7) adjusted up to round out a full night of week-to-week upticks for NBC, while Marry Me (1.3) dropped 0.1 in finals.
- ABC got some of its best numbers of the season in the Tuesday 8/7c hour with new holiday special Toy Story That Time Forgot (1.9) leading into classic special A Charlie Brown Christmas (2.1). This was well behind the new Halloween-themed Toy Story special in 2013 (3.1), but Charlie Brown was up two tenths year-to-year. That added lead-in support plus perhaps some audience fleeing CBS repeats produced a positive night for the ABC dramas; Agents of SHIELD (1.8) had its best rating since the season premiere and Forever (1.2) snagged its best rating since late October.
- A good night for superheroes continued on the CW as the first half of a crossover between The Flash and Arrow saw a small uptick for The Flash (1.5). Often it's the second show that benefits more in these situations, so we'll see what happens with Arrow, though last night's story on Flash was largely self-contained.
- With CBS and ABC way down from last week (when CBS had originals and ABC a DWTS finale), there were also some minor upticks on the other original networks. The Voice (2.6), Marry Me (1.4) and About a Boy (1.1) all bounced back from last week's truly egregious numbers, but Chicago Fire (1.6) had no such luck (at least in the demo). MasterChef Junior (1.6) and New Girl (1.4) were up a tenth for Fox.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: The Voice (2.8) was up 0.1.
- On a much less competitive (and less interrupted) night than the November sweeps Mondays, NBC's State of Affairs was desperate for a week three rebound. It got one, but a 1.6 probably isn't enough to really change the picture here. It will have to keep going up in the final post-Voice weeks (or hold up extremely well after The Voice leaves) to get meaningfully back in the mix.
- Elsewhere, ABC went with two-hour special CMA Country Christmas (1.6, up a tick from last year when it aired at 9/8c) into Castle (1.5), tying a season low with its worst lead-in of the season. Fox's Sleepy Hollow (1.5) fall finale hit a pretty typical rating despite a repeat lead-in from Gotham (1.0). And CBS aired four Mike and Molly repeats (1.2 / 1.2 / 1.2 / 1.1) on the Monday before its premiere.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: It got a little less ugly on ABC after finals after Once Upon a Time (2.1) and Resurrection (0.9) adjusted up, but all three dramas still hit outright season lows.
- CBS had a massive NFL overrun from Patriots/Packers that happened to end right at 7:30 ET, making these preliminary numbers a bit less subject to huge adjustments than usual. At the moment, CBS is tracking toward a season high for 60 Minutes (3.7), a best-since-premiere number from Madam Secretary (1.9) and a pretty good start for the final season of The Mentalist (1.6) (even with last year's premiere and above all The Good Wife results in the slot this season).
- With CBS strong, NBC airing an above-average football game and AMC with a The Walking Dead finale, there was very little audience left for the other two entertainment networks. ABC had a particularly disheartening meltdown as Once Upon a Time (2.0) dropped by 17% while Resurrection (0.8) and Revenge (1.0) were down a full third. Fox punted again with repeats of both The Simpsons (1.0) and Family Guy (1.1). Given those results, Bob's Burgers (1.0) and especially Brooklyn Nine-Nine (1.4) held up OK at the bottom of the hours.
WHAT MATTERS:
- Though it's usually not as viewing-depressed as the previous two nights (at least compared to typical levels for the night of the week), Black Friday was still not too kind to the few originals that aired. NBC's three-hour lineup of Dateline (1.3), Grimm (1.2) and Constantine (0.9) was down across the board. None of these ratings were all that irregular, though Constantine did give back most of last week's odd surge.
- On CBS, The Amazing Race (1.0) tied a season low, and holiday specials Frosty the Snowman (1.1) and Yes, Virginia (0.7) were down massively year-to-year. (Though they aired a week later last season.)
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: Elementary (1.2) gained another tick, putting it at a tie for its season high.
- It was a quiet Thanksgiving Thursday for CBS' original comedies, as Mom (1.6) was down nearly a full point, Two and a Half Men (1.5) nearly a third and The McCarthys over 20%. Normally they'd be expected to hold up better than this even on the viewing-depressed evening, but they had the double-whammy of also having to air for the first time after a repeat of The Big Bang Theory (1.7). As a result, the declines lessened throughout the night, culminating in Elementary (1.1) actually building by a tenth week-to-week.
- NBC was an overwhelming #1 with NFL football, while Fox got what would be a pretty good rating out of two-hour special Cause for Paws (1.6). But based on the breakdowns (2.8 -> 1.5 -> 1.2 -> 1.0), it's pretty clear that the late afternoon NFL lead-in was of great assistance here and may have even run into the 8:00 hour. If so, it will adjust down. ABC was very quiet with a Robin Roberts special (0.6) and How to Get Away with Murder repeats (0.5/0.6).
WHAT MATTERS:
- Always an interesting lesson in how different shows react to viewing depressions, this Thanksgiving Eve saw CBS' Survivor (2.1) take a three tenth week-to-week drop, while Criminal Minds (2.2) and Stalker (1.6) were very close to even. As usual, younger-skewing Fox was hit much harder; Hell's Kitchen (1.1) and Red Band Society (0.7) each lost over 20% week-to-week.
- Usually a Thanksgiving Day tradition, ABC's A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (2.1) was much improved year-to-year on the higher-viewed Thanksgiving Eve, and it helped boost repeats of Modern Family (1.5) and Black-ish (1.2) to well above last year's repeats. The CW's movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles (0.6) also grew a tenth year-to-year, but NBC's preview special for Peter Pan Live! (0.6) went well behind a similar special for The Sound of Music Live! last year (1.0).
WEEK ONE
Rating: 2.2
Lead-in: The Voice (3.1 overall, 3.0 at 9:30)
Competition: Castle (1.8),
NCIS: Los Angeles (1.7).
Welcome to the final Best Case/Worst Case of 2014, visiting a five-pack of premieres straggling across the last weeks of the year. Though many of these are short-order schedule fillers, I'm excluding some of the very short-order schedule fillers. (Sorry, The Sing-Off
and The Great Christmas Light Fight
!)
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