WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: 2 Broke Girls (1.6) adjusted up.
- ABC took its comedy lineup off the air to debut two-night miniseries Madoff (1.2), which skewed old (7 million total viewers) and had a pretty modest demo appeal. It was of no help to American Crime (0.8) at 10/9c, which ticked down by 0.1 for the fourth consecutive week.
- NBC was back from a week off with a slight downtick for The Mysteries of Laura (1.1) but an above-average night for Law and Order: SVU (1.8) and Chicago PD (1.7). SVU continues to absolutely crush what it was doing against Empire at this time last year, and it was also up against a repeat of Criminal Minds (1.2) this week.
- CBS' Code Black stayed original at 10/9c, and it downticked to 1.2 with its worst lead-in yet. (Though this is still what it was doing in the fall even with original lead-ins.) The bright spots for CBS were 2 Broke Girls (1.5) and Mike and Molly (1.6), but they were also down a tick.
- Fox saw American Idol (2.3) down a bit, but Hell's Kitchen (1.5) picked up a tenth in its second episode on Wednesday.
- And the CW's Arrow (0.9) also took a hit, but Supernatural (0.7) was even.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: The Muppets (0.9) adjusted up and iZombie (0.5) adjusted down.
- On cable, Ryan Murphy seems to have done it again as FX's The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story started with a 1.96. It was not quite as big as the last American Horror Story premiere (2.99) but a huge cable number by any other standard.
- After nearly two months off, ABC's The Muppets returned in utterly disastrous fashion: with 2.7 million viewers and a 0.8 demo rating, three tenths behind its previous series low and barely a quarter of the series premiere rating back in September. Whatever the showrunner change may have done creatively, it's clear that the audience had absolutely no interest in checking it out.
- The struggles continued later in the night for ABC as Agent Carter (0.8) inched down and What Would You Do? stayed at last week's 0.7.
- The only thing remotely resembling a bright spot on ABC was the return of Fresh Off the Boat (1.4) in the lead-off spot, as it was at least able to beat its last couple fall results.
- On another Tuesday free from CBS drama competition, NBC's Hollywood Game Night (1.1), Chicago Med (1.6) and Chicago Fire (1.8) were all steady or down just a touch.
- Fox's New Girl (1.4) had a good night, rebounding from its last couple drops, and Grandfathered (1.0) was up a tenth at 8:30. But Brooklyn Nine-Nine stayed at last week's season low 1.0, and The Grinder is another show venturing into unmitigated disaster territory as it dropped to a new low 0.6.
- CBS won the night thanks to its annual "Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials" special, usually a one-hour special that was expanded to two for the first time. It's been hovering right around a 2.0 rating for the last five years, and this season's edition (2.0/2.1) was no exception. A repeat of NCIS (1.2) rounded out the night at 10/9c.
- Airing alongside an original The Flash (1.4) for the first time since early December, iZombie inched up to 0.6.
NBA Saturday Primetime
Saturdays, 8:30/7:30c, ABC
Shameless
Sundays, 9/8c, Showtime
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: The Bachelor (2.3), The X-Files (2.7) and Lucifer (2.0) adjusted up. NCIS: Los Angeles (R) (1.0) went down.
- Week two of the new Fox Monday saw The X-Files (2.6) and Lucifer (1.9) each drop in the general vicinity of 20% from last week. That's a bit more than the average week two slippage, but given how well they started, these results are still pretty positive.
- It seemed like such a win for Supergirl to hold at 1.8 last week that perhaps a reality check was inevitable in its second duel with The X-Files. And it certainly got one, dropping all the way to the low end of its fall results at 1.5. It may have hurt that its companions Scorpion (1.2) and NCIS: Los Angeles (1.1) were in repeats. (Notably, NCIS: LA actually had a 1.1 original in October!)
- Most of the other options had a fairly soft night, too. NBC dropped a bit across the board with Superstore (1.4), Telenovela (0.8) and The Biggest Loser (1.0), and ABC's The Bachelor (2.2) also inched down to mark its worst year-to-year result of the season.
- On the CW, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is hoping to hold onto an 0.4 for the first time (though it may not be a particularly solid one with a 0.4 -> 0.3 breakdown). Jane the Virgin had another 0.4.
WHAT MATTERS:
- After three years of live musical productions on NBC, Fox provided its own spin on the format and got spectacular results out of Grease Live!, which averaged a 4.3 demo rating and over 12 million viewers. This came pretty darn close to NBC's breakthrough 4.6 with The Sound of Music Live! back in 2013 and easily beat NBC's The Wiz Live! (3.4) from earlier this season. It's all the more impressive since it started in the low-viewed 7:00/6:00c hour, growing from a 3.7 in the opening half-hour as high as 4.6 by 9:30.
- NBC was a very distant second with a three-hour American Ninja Warrior special (1.4/1.4/1.5). CBS brought back its original drama lineup of Madam Secretary (1.1), The Good Wife (1.0) and CSI: Cyber (1.0) for the first time in three weeks (only to go away again next week for the Super Bowl). And ABC wrapped up a very poor-rated season of Galavant (0.6) with a tiny uptick.
These numbers are current through Thursday, January 28.
WHAT MATTERS:
- Might newbie The Magicians finally be the Syfy drama to break through its recent sub-0.3 ceiling? The show had a nice start by Syfy standards, with a 0.39/0.41 for its two-hour opener on Monday. (The first half of that premiere previewed back in December with a 0.26, but I will count this Monday 9/8c airing as the "official" one since it was so much higher.)
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