SpotVault - American Horror Story (FX) - Fall 2014 Ratings

American Horror Story

Wednesdays, 10/9c, FX

SpotVault - Homeland (Showtime) - Fall 2014 Ratings

Homeland

Sundays, 9/8c, Showtime

SpotVault - South Park (Comedy) - 2014 Ratings

South Park

Wednesdays, 10/9c, Comedy Central

SpotVault - Awkward (MTV) - 2014 Ratings

Awkward.

Tuesdays, 10/9c, MTV

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 10/9/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Hours after a Nielsen announcement about a "technical error" affecting broadcast final ratings for months, ABC's three series did not adjust up. This is likely not a coincidence, and there's a good chance that many of ABC's sizable adjustments in recent weeks will be wiped out or reduced after the revisions are released on October 17. (Though it's not clear whether we'll actually see these new numbers.) However, Bones (1.6) and The Vampire Diaries (0.8) did go up by a tenth.

• Week three of TGIT remained the definitive entertainment lineup, but it came down a little more. Grey's Anatomy (2.4) and Scandal (3.0) were each down just over 10% more (though likely just less than 10% after finals). The really good news was that How to Get Away with Murder (3.1) actually took a smaller drop, and at least in preliminaries was ABC's outright biggest show of the night.

• Among last week's soft premieres, the only one that kept things kinda interesting in week two was NBC's Bad Judge (1.3). It was even week-to-week even as The Biggest Loser (1.2) declined. That's not half bad, really. However, its lead-out A to Z (1.0) was down a typical amount, and Gracepoint (0.9) became the season's third sub-1.0 Fox newbie (with Mulaney likely to follow it soon).

• Bones (1.5) and Parenthood (1.3) continued to hang in rather respectably, but the CW had a week two decline from The Vampire Diaries (0.7).

First Two Weeks, Selfie

WEEK ONE
Rating: 1.6
Lead-in: Local programming
Competition: NCIS (2.6 overall, 2.6 at 8:00), The Voice (4.1 overall, 3.4 at 8:00), Utopia (0.8 overall, 0.8 at 8:00), iHeartRadio Music Festival (0.4 overall, 0.4 at 8:00).

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 10/8/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Arrow (1.0) didn't get any help, but ABC had another big night in finals. Modern Family (3.6) was up 0.2 and the other three comedies all gained 0.1, putting Black-ish (2.9) at a stout three tenths above last week. This put the three-hour ABC lineup ever-so-slightly ahead of the same night last year. FX's American Horror Story premiered at a new series high 3.11, six hundredths above last year's 3.05 premiere.

• If week three was the night that doomed Super Fun Night last year, it may go down as the night that validated Black-ish (2.8) this year. The series was up two tenths (maybe more after finals) even as its Modern Family lead-in (3.4) declined slightly. It now seems like a pretty solid bet to be ABC's strongest ModFam lead-out yet. ABC was steady in the 8/7c hour with The Middle (2.0) and The Goldbergs (2.2) and at 10/9c with Nashville (1.5) (which is actually now running close to even year-to-year).

• Elsewhere in newbie land, Stalker (1.7) was down a typical 15%, putting it in the same area as CBS' Monday and Tuesday 10:00 options. Considering its Criminal Minds lead-in (2.3) was also down the same amount, it's not really that terrible, though not particularly promising either. And The Mysteries of Laura (1.3) and Red Band Society (0.9) each slipped noticeably in their fourth episodes after being steady in their third.

• And the CW welcomed back Arrow (1.0) at a tenth above last season's premiere/finale, but a couple tenths behind last season's high point. There doesn't seem to have been a ton of heat here from the CW's enormous The Flash premiere a night earlier, but it may have been worth a tenth or so. Considering how the majority has fared at The Question this year, expect upward adjustments! Speaking of The Flash, it had a decent premiere encore rating at 9/8c (0.6).

First Two Weeks, Manhattan Love Story

WEEK ONE
Rating: 1.5
Lead-in: Selfie (1.6)
Competition: NCIS (2.6 overall, 2.7 at 8:30), The Voice (4.1 overall, 4.1 at 8:30), Utopia (0.8 overall, 0.8 at 8:30), iHeartRadio Music Festival (0.4 overall, 0.4 at 8:30).

First Two Weeks, How to Get Away with Murder

WEEK ONE
Rating: 3.9
Lead-in: Scandal (3.9 overall, 3.8 at 9:30)
Competition: Thursday Night Football (6.0 overall, 5.9/6.7 in 10:00 hour), Parenthood (1.4).

The Question, Wednesday 10/8/14: Will Arrow's Ratings Shoot Upward?

I have decided that The Flash's epic 1.8 premiere was big enough to give tonight's Arrow premiere a Question-worthy level of intrigue. (Also, it's less hand-wringing for me than taking a shot in the dark at American Horror Story.) In its two seasons to date, Arrow has never been the huge breakthrough that The Flash was on day one, but it also didn't drop off too worryingly in its sophomore season. And lead Stephen Amell made a cameo appearance in The Flash's pilot last night (with The Flash lead Grant Gustin returning the favor tonight). Will Arrow's ratings shoot upward? That's The Question for Wednesday, October 8, 2014.