Top 10 of the Last 10, New Scripted Shows

The collective decline in Live+SD ratings makes it hard to fairly compare numbers across seasons. But with the A18-49+ stat, we have the technology! Enter the "Top 10 of the Last 10" lists, which will line up the last ten seasons (2003-04 thru 2012-13) and give us an idea of which shows were strongest after we set the collective decline off to the side. (I'll throw in the raw numbers too, to give a sense of how far ratings have fallen.)

Today, the top 10 scripted newbies of the last decade. It's quite an eclectic list; some went on to sustained success and are still big nearly a decade later, some flamed out quickly, and some... didn't even get renewed for season two?!

War of 18-49 Update, Army Wives (2012-13)

Let's take a look at the 2012-13 season (the seventh overall) of Army Wives on Lifetime.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 6/12/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• This may go down as a game-changing night for the NHL. The Stanley Cup Finals kicked off with an epic game that ran till around 1:00 ET and more than doubled last year's Game 1 rating. It was the most-watched Stanley Cup Game 1 since 1997. It didn't appear to benefit or suffer much from the extreme length, as it peaked in the 11:00 half-hour and had actually dropped below the full game average by the end.

• Still not yet sure if it means anything since it started so low, but The American Baking Competition became an extremely rare show to grow in week two and then again in week three.

• USA welcomed back the fast-deteriorating Royal Pains (0.71) and Necessary Roughness (0.65) Wednesday lineup for a third summer. It's hard to believe that the first airing of this combo just two years ago saw the shows pull 1.4 apiece.

The War of 18-49, White Collar

WHITE COLLAR (USA)

Scheduling history: White Collar debuted back in the days when USA Network was still programming high-priority shows on Fridays. It led out of the final episodes of Monk on Friday, then took a one-month break before returning on Tuesday. It stayed on Tuesday through season four, consistently airing at 9:00 in the summer and 10:00 in the winter. The last two seasons marked a return to airing entirely in the broadcast regular season, on Thursday at 9/8c.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 6/11/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• One of the most crowded nights on broadcast got even moreso as ABC's Game 3 of the NBA Finals showed up on the night and posted similar ratings to the first two games despite the game being a massive blowout. That meant the smallest year-to-year deficit of the series to date, as this game was just -11% vs. 2012's Sunday Game 3.

• NBC's usually dominant talent shows were down a bit vs. the added competition. Suffice to say NBC is now all in for the Spurs to win the Finals in five games, as they surely have no interest in throwing next week's The Voice finale at an NBA Finals Game 6.

• On cable, ABC Family impressed with a strong return from Pretty Little Liars (1.3), which was actually two ticks above last summer's premiere (though a notch below last winter's premiere). PLL's new lead-out Twisted (0.5) struggled, but it's worth noting this episode has already aired (it was sneak previewed after PLL's winter finale on 3/19/13) so I'll reserve judgment for a week.

War of 18-49 Update, Southland (2012-13)

Let's take a look at the 2012-13 season (the fifth and final overall) of Southland on TNT.

Spotted Ratings, Weekend Roundup (6/7-6/8/13)

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC geared up for what looks to be a positive Stanley Cup Final with  Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, which actually did a few ticks better than the final round game on the year-ago night.

• The big loser of the weekend was the IndyCar Series' foray into primetime, which posted one of the worst ratings in ABC's history.

Spotted Ratings, Monday 6/10/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC introduced its final new The Voice lead-out of the season, singing game show The Winner Is, which rated just a bit below recent Revolution episodes. It gets another try next week and then looks to fend for itself on Thursdays later in the summer.

• ABC's Mistresses began its effort to come back from last week's disappointing premiere by surprisingly growing a couple ticks in week two, to a level ABC could potentially live with... if it stays here.

• And here are some notables from a very eventful Monday in cable:
  

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 6/9/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• Game 2 of the NBA Finals was up a tick from game 1 and down by a similar amount vs. last year's corresponding game (-18%).

• CBS' Tony Awards continued the recent hot streak for awards shows, growing by 20% year-to-year (even if that just means 1.0 to 1.2).

• On cable, HBO's finale of Game of Thrones (2.9) tied a series high, and TNT had a very solid two-hour return from Falling Skies (1.5), which tied last year's premiere.

The War of 18-49, Cougar Town

COUGAR TOWN (ABC/TBS)

Scheduling history: Cougar Town aired its first two seasons after fellow new sitcom Modern Family. In season three it was held for midseason and ended up in a Tuesday block paired with Last Man Standing. ABC then cancelled the show, but it found a second life on TBS, where it aired on Tuesday at 10:00 and was moved to 10:30 for the final season.