SpotVault - The Real O'Neals (ABC) - 2015-16 Ratings

SpotVault - The Voice (NBC) - Spring 2016 Ratings

Spotted Ratings, Friday 3/4/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Grimm (1.0) adjusted up. This was the first time it broke 1.0 in almost four months.

• Many of Friday's biggest programs went into repeats on the first Friday after February sweeps. But this proved a good opportunity for Dr. Ken (1.1) to show its value, as its original was up a tenth week-to-week even sandwiched between repeats of Last Man Standing (0.9) and Shark Tank (1.1). 20/20 (0.9) also bounced back a bit for ABC.

• NBC's Grimm (0.9) was back from a week off at normal levels, while Dateline (0.9) fell at 10/9c.

• The Amazing Race (1.1) was the lone CBS original, as Hawaii Five-0 (0.8) and Blue Bloods (0.9) aired repeats.

• Fox's Sleepy Hollow (0.7) inched back down to the low end, while Second Chance held at 0.5.

• And CW's The Vampire Diaries (0.4) and The Originals (0.4) gave back their crossover bumps.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 3/3/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: American Idol (2.0) adjusted up. The Fox News debate (3.62) was easily the biggest program of the night, and it was about a third ahead of last week's CNN debate.

• ABC previewed new drama The Family to just 5.7 million viewers and a 1.5 demo rating, barely retaining two-thirds of the demo from its Grey's Anatomy lead-in (2.2). This concept is probably going to skew older than the TGIT norm, so it may have been more affected by a huge Republican debate on Fox News. But this is still a disappointingly modest starting point as it heads to Sunday later this week.
• While Grey's Anatomy (2.2) was up a notch to lead off the night, How to Get Away with Murder (1.4) inched down at 10/9c with a reduced lead-in.

• With The Big Bang Theory in repeats, Life in Pieces (1.8) couldn't pull off another improbable 100% week-to-week hold; it dropped by three tenths this time. But that's still relatively healthy behavior given TBBT (1.9) was reduced by nearly two full points from last week.
• The network held up better as the night wore on with Mom (1.7) down just a tenth, then 2 Broke Girls (1.7) and Elementary (1.1) were even.

• NBC also sat out its biggest gun on Thursday, bombing in the first two hours with You, Me and the Apocalypse (0.5) and a repeat of Blindspot (0.4). But Shades of Blue (1.0) proved resilient at 10/9c, matching last week.

• American Idol (1.9) won again on Thursday but couldn't continue its run in the twos, at least in the prelims (but it looks like it might be close to adjusting up).

• And the CW's Legends of Tomorrow held on at 0.9, while The 100 (0.5) gave back last week's uptick.

Best Case/Worst Case: The Family

Best Case/Worst Case lays out possible scenarios for broadcast primetime TV seasons yet to premiere. Here's what's premiering tonight!

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 3/2/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The Goldbergs (2.1) adjusted up.

•  ABC opened new comedy The Real O'Neals with a 1.8 demo at 8:30 (retaining 90% of its The Goldbergs (2.0) lead-in), and then a 1.9 for a second preview episode at 9:30 (dropping noticeably from Modern Family's 2.6). This is on par with or slightly below what the normal Wednesday comedies do, which usually wouldn't be a great sign on a series premiere night. But the key here is how much translates to its regular Tuesday timeslot, where expectations will be a lot lower.
• At 10/9c, American Crime inched back down to 0.8.

• On Fox, Rosewood (0.9) had a dreadful return to the schedule after three months off, going three tenths below even its Thanksgiving Eve low point (and a half point behind any other episode). It was always clear from its back-loaded half-hour breakdowns that it was getting a lot of help from Empire pre-tune, but it's pretty sobering to see just how much.
• With a much-reduced lead-in, Hell's Kitchen (1.0) also took a big downswing for Fox.

• CBS' Survivor (2.2) finally flexed some muscle after a couple modest opening weeks, surging by three tenths from last week. Criminal Minds (1.9) was also on the upswing, and that helped CSI: Cyber (1.2) hit a season high in a special Wednesday episode. (This would've been a fairly typical number for previous occupant Code Black, including matching its finale last week.)

• In its last case for renewal, The Mysteries of Laura (1.2) got a pretty decent season finale upswing, ending on the high end of its consistent 1.0-1.2 range. Later in the night, Law and Order: SVU (1.6) inched up while Chicago PD (1.5) gave up a tenth.

• And the CW's comic book show hiatus continued with a Greatest Animal Commercials special (0.3) and a repeat of the MADtv reunion (0.3) first aired in January.

Best Case/Worst Case: The Real O'Neals

Best Case/Worst Case lays out possible scenarios for broadcast primetime TV seasons yet to premiere. Here's what's premiering tonight!

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 3/1/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: New Girl (1.2) and ABC's Super Tuesday hour (0.7) adjusted up.

• NBC's The Voice returned to the Tuesday scene with a 3.0 average from 8:00 to 10:00. This seems like a worse result than the Monday premiere, down by over 20% from the year-ago Tuesday premiere. But it's possible it got mucked up a bit by irregularities that come with the Super Tuesday politics coverage, so let's give it another week.

• Super Tuesday and the arrival of The Voice were pretty bad news for its broadcast opponents:
• CBS' NCIS (2.0) and NCIS: New Orleans (1.6) both had easily their worst ratings of 2016.
• Fox's comedy lineup of New Girl (1.1), Grandfathered (0.8), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (0.8) and The Grinder (0.6) saw the anchors each lose another tenth.
• ABC's finales of The Muppets (0.9/0.8) and Agent Carter (0.7) were fairly in line with recent results, but it'd be hard to say they made much of a renewal case.

• All the three-hour networks went into Super Tuesday coverage at 10/9c, with NBC (1.5) riding the Voice lead-in to outrate CBS (0.8) and ABC (0.6) combined.

• And the CW began a three week The Flash hiatus with a rebroadcast of the World Dog Awards (0.3/0.2). 

Checking In with the Networks as The Voice Returns

The spring return of The Voice is always one of the season's biggest sea changes. Before Monday's finals get in the books, here's a quick look at what happened in the network race while it was gone. This chart maps the cumulative season-to-date average for each network's original series by week.

Spotted Ratings, Monday 2/29/16

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC's The Voice returned to the airwaves with a dominant 3.4 rating, nearly matching the fall 2015 premiere (3.5) but noticeably behind the year-ago premiere in February 2015 (4.1).
• Its fall lead-out Blindspot limped back onto the scene with a new series low 1.8... it's not good news, as even the poster child for big hiatus drops, Revolution three years ago, was able to tie its previous low after the long hiatus. Blindspot should be able to remain an improvement on what The Night Shift did here last year, but it may not be a whole lot more than that long-term.

• Gotham (1.5) had an OK return on Fox, down a tenth from its fall premiere and fall finale. The new lead-in sent Lucifer (1.3) down by two tenths, almost exactly what would be expected with this lead-in drop. So even with the reduced lead-in, Lucifer seems like a passable player.

• CBS was the only network that really seemed to suffer against The Voice's return, with Supergirl (1.4), Scorpion (1.5) and NCIS: Los Angeles (1.2) all declining even more from their mediocre results a week ago. It was a new low for both Supergirl and Scorpion.

• Like last year, ABC's female-skewing lineup was totally unfazed against the return of The Voice, with The Bachelor (2.5) and Castle (1.1) both matching last week.

• CW's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (0.3) and Jane the Virgin (0.3) were also even.