First Two Weeks, American Housewife

WEEK ONE
Rating: 1.9
Lead-in: The Middle (1.8)
Competition: NCIS (1.8), The Voice (2.6), New Girl (0.9), The Flash (1.1)

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 10/19/16

FINALS UPDATE: Blindspot (1.2) and Frequency (0.3) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• The big four stepped aside starting at 9/8c to air the third and final presidential debate. Overnights suggested it did better than the second debate ten days ago (which had to compete with the NFL), and also better than the 2012 third debate, but significantly worse than the enormous first debate on September 26.

• In the 8:00 hour, Fox's Lethal Weapon (1.7) and NBC's Blindspot (1.3) both aired with atypical lead-outs. It was actually a downgrade for Weapon, which usually has megahit Empire at 9/8c, while Fox averaged just a 1.9 in the 9/8c prelims last night. So the show absolutely looks like the real deal in dropping just a couple tenths in that situation. (It's even had this number in a with-Empire situation, in week three.) Blindspot bounced back from last week's 1.1 to its usual early season number, which is better than nothing, but it's still questionable whether it can do it again under normal circumstances.

• CBS' Survivor (1.9) did its usual thing, while ABC actually won the hour as Halloween-themed specials It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (2.2) and Toy Story of TERROR! (2.0) did better than the usual comedies. Both specials did significantly better than last season (when they averaged 2.0/1.6 respectively).

• The CW was the only network with a full entertainment night, as both Arrow (0.6) and Frequency (0.4) aired. The early-season softness continued for the superhero empire, with Arrow preliminarily dipping to a new series low, but Frequency took at least a bit of advantage of the simulcast competition in the 9/8c hour.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 10/18/16

FINALS UPDATE: American Housewife (1.7) and The Voice (2.5) adjusted up while The Real O'Neals (0.9) and Agents of SHIELD (0.7) and Chicago Fire (1.6) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• ABC's comedy Tuesday came back to earth a bit in week two, with comedies The Middle (1.5), American Housewife (1.6), Fresh Off the Boat (1.3) and The Real O'Neals (1.0) all taking high-teens drops week-to-week and Agents of SHIELD inching down to a new low 0.8. Staying ahead of its Middle lead-in keeps Housewife squarely in the 'promising' column, but the lineup as a whole may not be quite what seemed possible on premiere night.

• NBC's breakout This Is Us (2.6) was back down a bit in its second week at 9/8c, mimicking the path it took in the two 10/9c episodes, and it outrated its The Voice (2.4) lead-in once again. Chicago Fire (1.7) was down a tenth in its second week, but up a tenth year-to-year in raw numbers.

• On Fox, Scream Queens somehow found another new low at 0.6, but its lead-in comedies Brooklyn Nine-Nine (0.9) and New Girl (0.9) were even.

• Week three of No Tomorrow on the CW surged back to a whooping 0.3 and will hope to hold it in finals this time. The Flash had another preliminary 1.0 that will hope to adjust up and avoid a new low.

• CBS was even across the board with NCIS (1.8), Bull (1.6) and NCIS: New Orleans (1.2).

Cablemetrics: Westworld, Shameless, Eyewitness, Falling Water

These numbers are current through Monday, October 17.

WHAT MATTERS:

• It was the only Sunday with no debate and no zombie drama, plus a season low Sunday Night Football, and HBO's Westworld took advantage in a big way by surging to a new high 0.92. Westworld's lead-out comedies Divorce (0.24) and Insecure (0.15) also looked better in their second weeks, and Showtime's Shameless (0.57) also had a big surge to a season high on this tweener Sunday.
• The Walking Dead mothership will be back next week, and it geared up for the new season with a 0.90 for a two-hour recap special on Sunday.

SpotVault - The Odd Couple (CBS) - 2016-17 Ratings

The Odd Couple

Mondays, 9:30/8:30c, CBS

SpotVault - Jane the Virgin (CW) - 2016-17 Ratings

Jane the Virgin

Mondays, 9/8c, CW

SpotVault - Eyewitness (USA) - Fall 2016 Ratings

Spotted Ratings, Monday 10/17/16

FINALS UPDATE: Dancing with the Stars (1.6) and The Big Bang Theory (3.5) and The Voice (2.7) and Gotham (1.2) adjusted up while Conviction (0.7) and 2 Broke Girls (1.5) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• On the last Monday with an original The Big Bang Theory, most of the CBS lineup was fairly status quo; Big Bang (3.4) and Kevin Can Wait (2.1) each matched last week's finals, 2 Broke Girls (1.6) inched down from last week, and Scorpion (1.3) was steady as well. However, The Odd Couple (1.1) emerged as a weak link out of the gate, dropping nearly a third of its 2 Broke Girls lead-in at 9:30. It's a show that has always had competent retention of Big Bang's live viewership, but this looked more like the series that bombed when left on its own for the finale back in May.

• On the CW, Supergirl (0.9) was down a couple tenths in its second week on its new network, but still shows potential to be the network's second-biggest series. After wasting last week's breakthrough premiere on a No Tomorrow encore (only to see that show drop 48% in its regular timeslot), this week brought the return of Jane the Virgin (0.4) at 9/8c. 0.4 was Jane's most frequent rating last season, but doesn't look quite as strong with a lead-in of this size.

• The new dramas at 10/9c tried to hang on in their third weeks; if they actually hold in finals, Timeless (1.5) would be up week-to-week, and Conviction (0.8) steady. But their half-hour breakdowns (1.8/1.3 and 0.8/0.7 respectively) suggest they could be vulnerable to downticks in finals. It still may go down as a not-bad week for Timeless' prospects, since The Voice (2.6) was down at least a couple tenths week-to-week. Dancing with the Stars (1.5/1.6) was steady-ish for ABC.

• On Fox, Lucifer (1.1) got back last week's lost tenth, while Gotham had yet another 1.1.

First Two Weeks, Frequency

Games still open: No Tomorrow (closes today!)

WEEK ONE
Rating: 0.36
Lead-in: Arrow (0.7)
Competition: Modern Family (2.2), Black-ish (1.5), Criminal Minds (1.4), Law and Order: SVU (1.4), Empire (3.4)

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 10/16/16

FINALS UPDATE: NCIS: Los Angeles (1.4) and Sunday Night Football (4.9) and The OT (5.5) adjusted up while The Simpsons (3.0) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• After a debate preemption last week, the regular Sunday night lineups returned with ABC's Once Upon a Time (1.1) and Secrets and Lies (0.9) each matching two weeks ago (while Once inched down from last week before the debate). However, it was a brutal night for Quantico, which crashed to a new low 0.8 at 10/9c.

• Fox had a big national NFL overrun, boosting The Simpsons' (3.1) annual Treehouse of Horror episode to way above its 2.6 after the NFL two weeks ago, and even ahead of the Treehouse episode last year (a 2.8 on 10/25/15). But that momentum didn't continue to Son of Zorn (1.5), which was actually down from its last episode leading out of a weaker Simpsons. Family Guy (1.6) also inched down, but The Last Man on Earth (1.1) gained a tenth.

• CBS started on time and had some slippage from NCIS: Los Angeles (1.3) and Elementary (0.7), sandwiching a steady Madam Secretary (1.1).

• NBC's Sunday Night Football appears headed for a season low, perhaps losing some audience to Game 2 of the NLCS on Fox Sports 1. More after finals!