Spotted Ratings, Thursday 12/29/11 (FINALS)

WHAT MATTERS:

• Pretty sure none of this matters, but I will note that the repeat of The Big Bang Theory could well be the biggest non-football program of the week.

Midseason Matchups 2012, Friday

Bold indicates a timeslot change; ALL CAPS indicates a new show

8/7c

Winter Broadcast: Shark Tank (ABC, 1/20) vs. A Gifted Man (CBS) vs. Chuck (NBC) vs. Kitchen Nightmares (Fox) vs. Nikita (CW)

Spring Broadcast: Shark Tank (ABC) vs. Undercover Boss (CBS, 2/17) vs. Who Do You Think You Are? (2/3) vs. Kitchen Nightmares (Fox) vs. Nikita (CW)

Cable: Friday Night Smackdown! (Syfy)

Projected A18-49 winner: Kitchen Nightmares (Fox)

Notes: Reality logjam! I thought Home Edition could be a real challenger at 8:00, but it was at least a couple ticks behind Nightmares head-to-head. Nightmares has a history of beating two of these shows. So the most likely challenger would appear to be Undercover Boss, but I'll stick with the incumbent until it proves otherwise.

The Holiday Viewing Downturn

It seems like all TV ratings in the month of December are pretty much immune to scrutiny in some circles because "people are out shopping." How valid is that? Let's take a closer look at how far overall viewing levels drop during the month of December. I'll include my disclaimer that these are estimates, not Nielsen-supplied numbers, but I try to reduce the error by looking at full weeks and days rather than individual timeslots.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 12/28/11 (FINALS)

WHAT MATTERS:

• The first of two straight completely encore-driven nights saw many of TV's most-repeated shows in action and a dominant showing by CBS. (That's all I got for ya.)

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 12/27/11 (FINALS)

WHAT MATTERS:

• The only original on Tuesday, The Kennedy Center Honors, skewed farther from the 18-49 demo than almost anything else you'll see in broadcast primetime. Its NCIS lead-in dominated the field of repeats.

Midseason Matchups 2012, Thursday

Bold indicates a timeslot change; ALL CAPS indicates a new show

8/7c

Winter Broadcast: Winter Wipeout (ABC, 1/5) vs. The Big Bang Theory/ROB (CBS, 1/12) vs. 30 Rock/Parks and Recreation (NBC, 1/12) vs. American Idol (Fox, 1/19) vs. The Vampire Diaries (CW)

Spring Broadcast: MISSING (ABC, 3/15) vs. The Big Bang Theory/Rob (CBS) vs. 30 Rock/Parks and Recreation (NBC) vs. American Idol (Fox) vs. The Vampire Diaries (CW)

Projected A18-49 winner: American Idol (Fox)

Notes: As I said on yesterday's post, the other networks will get a head-start on the return of Idol, but that doesn't mean a whole lot. Remember how hugely Wipeout debuted in this hour last winter?

Spotted Ratings, Monday 12/26/11 (FINALS)

WHAT MATTERS:

• In the end, it doesn't look like NBC's Who's Still Standing? really built any momentum from its week-long run, as its 1.5 demo was right back where it was last Monday, and that came against an even more pathetic slate of broadcast competition. Rock Center and the certain-to-be-series-finale of You Deserve It hit new lows.

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 12/25/11 (FINALS)

WHAT MATTERS:

• Christmas Night was all about the NFL, as the Bears/Packers matchup more than doubled the combined competition. It was below average but actually the third-Truly strongest of the season due to extremely low (for Sunday) overall viewing. ABC dominated the 7/6c hour with the tail end of their Bulls/Lakers NBA duel.

Spotted Ratings, Saturday 12/24/11 (FINALS)

WHAT MATTERS:

• Christmas Eve + Saturday may well = the lowest-viewed evening of the regular season. (I'm holding out till I see the New Year's Eve numbers before I make that proclamation.)  Still, NBC got a good showing from It's a Wonderful Life, up a tick from last year's Christmas Eve telecast and the biggest movie rating on any broadcast network to date this season.

• Fox was well-above average by Terra Nova repeat standards thanks in large part to a national NFL lead-in. (As I just said on the True Top 25 post, since I don't have the NFL/The OT numbers, I can't account for that in TRUE. But a couple hypotheticals: if the lead-in were a very conservative 5.00, Terra Nova would've gotten a 1.51 TRUE. If it were a 8.00, that'd have pushed Terra Nova down to a 1.01.)

The True Top 25, Week Ending 12/25/11 (2011-12 Week 14)

It was another True Top 25 win for NBC's Sunday Night Football. The game was actually below the season average in raw A18-49 but was the third-biggest game of the year in TRUE because of how low the viewing levels were on Christmas Night. The only other original to break the 3.00 threshold was The X Factor for both halves of its two-night finale.

I may do a post further elaborating on this today or tomorrow, but Week 14 will most likely be the least-viewed week of the regular season. More than half of the top 25 was scripted repeats (and almost all of those were on CBS), while movies/specials on both Friday (Shrek the Halls) and Saturday (It's a Wonderful Life) made the list. The top 25 list will probably look more pathetic next week even if overall viewing goes up a bit.

There were just four broadcast scripted originals all week, and the biggest of those was the Terra Nova finale on Monday. The first half of the Terra Nova repeat on Saturday actually outdid the original, but that's because it had a national NFL telecast leading in which these numbers are unable to account for. (Even giving it a relatively conservative lead-in of 5.00, it would've dropped out of the top 25.)

Midseason Matchups 2012, Wednesday

Bold indicates a timeslot change; ALL CAPS indicates a new show

8/7c

Winter/Spring Broadcast: The Middle/Suburgatory (ABC) vs. Survivor (CBS, 2/15) vs. Whitney/ARE YOU THERE, CHELSEA? (NBC, 1/11) vs. American Idol (Fox, 1/18) vs. One Tree Hill (CW, 1/11)

Projected A18-49 winner: American Idol (Fox)

Notes: Even should NBC manage to get a decent premiere out of its Whitney/Chelsea "Happy Hour," this is even more a "The next few weeks will tell the story" situation than usual with Idol showing up in week two.

What I Watched This Fall, 2011 Edition

As veteran readers know, there used to be three Five-Spots a week. I always planned on scaling that back to just two this fall, and the plan was Sked & Opinion, figuring I'd hit most of the ratings news elsewhere on this blog. Then the SpoilerTV Ratings Five-Spot opportunity arose, so I decided to cut Opinion rather than keep adding to the load. As a result, I haven't really talked much about what I'm watching, even though I'm still watching a lot.

So I'm gonna bring over my summer wrap-up format to cover this stuff pretty quickly. Since I watch more in the fall than in the summer, I'll further divvy up the regulars by identifying when I watch them. I'll use a few familiar ratings terms: Live + SD (I usually watch within 24 hours), Live + 7 (I usually watch an episode by the time the next one airs), Live + 70 (I let it pile up) and Samples (I'm not a regular viewer). I thought this would correlate neatly with quality, but as I wrote this I discovered that I often don't watch the "best" shows first.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 12/23/11 (FINALS)

WHAT MATTERS:

• On a mostly dead Friday before Christmas, the only standout was ABC's second broadcast this year of Shrek the Halls, which should make it into the True Top 25 this week. Among the double-dipped holiday specials this fall, only A Charlie Brown Christmas (1.8 on 12/15/11) and Rudolph (1.6 on 12/10/11) did better the second time.

Midseason Matchups 2012, Tuesday

Bold indicates a timeslot change; ALL CAPS indicates a new show

8/7c

Winter Broadcast: Last Man Standing/WORK IT (ABC, 1/3) vs. NCIS (CBS) vs. The Biggest Loser (NBC) vs. Glee (Fox) vs. 90210 (CW)

Spring Broadcast: Last Man Standing/Work It (ABC) vs. NCIS (CBS) vs. The Biggest Loser (NBC) vs. New Girl (R)/Breaking In (Fox, 3/6) vs. 90210 (CW)

Cable: Switched At Birth (ABC Family, 1/3)

Projected A18-49 winner: NCIS (CBS)

Notes: There is some sense that Work It will not be feeling like a woman all season for ABC, but no replacement has been announced.

Midseason Matchups 2012, Monday

Bold indicates a timeslot change; ALL CAPS indicates a midseason series premiere

8/7c

Winter Broadcast: The Bachelor (ABC, 1/2) vs. How I Met Your Mother/2 Broke Girls (CBS) vs. Who's Still Standing? (NBC) vs. House (Fox, 1/23) vs. Gossip Girl (CW)

Spring Broadcast: Dancing with the Stars (ABC, 3/19) vs. How I Met Your Mother/2 Broke Girls (CBS) vs. The Voice (NBC, 2/6) vs. House (Fox) vs. Gossip Girl (CW)

Cable: Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family, 1/2)

Projected A18-49 winner: How I Met Your Mother/2 Broke Girls (CBS)

Notes: Is House "an 8:00 show," or will this move to the lower-viewing period make its already ugly year-to-year drops even worse?

Ratings Five-Spot, WE 12/25/11 - Homeland, Terra Nova, American Horror Story, The X Factor, Who's Still Standing?

2011's final Ratings Five-Spot at SpoilerTV wraps up some of the last few fall finales of 2011. I cover Homeland, Terra Nova, American Horror Story and The X Factor and also look at NBC's holiday-time run of Who's Still Standing? Check it out!

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 12/22/11

WHAT MATTERS:

• I'll have a bit more on both of these in the Ratings Five-Spot going up in about half an hour, but The X Factor rose 15% from the previous night's performance finale and 31% from last week's Thursday results, capping off a solid but below expectations season. Who's Still Standing? dropped by 0.2 for the second straight night and got back to its Monday premiere numbers.

The War of 18-49, True Blood

TRUE BLOOD (HBO)

Scheduling history: All 80 episodes of True Blood aired on Sunday at 9:00.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 12/21/11

WHAT MATTERS:

• Fox's The X Factor hit another new Wednesday performance low in its Wednesday finale. The net did get a week four rally from I Hate My Teenage Daughter, which got back to near its second week levels in about as uncompetitive a timeslot as you could possibly ask for. Could that be enough for Fox to go through with airing the show after Idol this spring?

• The only other originals on this low-viewed Wednesday were NBC's Who's Still Standing?, which finished right in the middle of its Monday and Tuesday ratings, and CBS' A Home For the Holidays, always one of the weakest holiday specials. It couldn't even beat an encore of NBC's A Michael Buble Christmas, which first ran to a 1.5 two weeks ago.

War of 18-49 Update, Survivor (Fall 2011)

Let's take a look at the fall 2011 season (the twenty-third overall) of Survivor on CBS.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 12/20/11 (FINALS): Standing Taller

WHAT MATTERS:

• Hey, a little late-December craziness! Who's Still Standing? grew big from its rather underwhelming premiere yesterday, and it teamed with NBC's always reliable Saturday Night Live special A Very Gilly Christmas to win this slow and low-viewed Tuesday for NBC. Blip or trend for Who's? Well, we have two more nights of this to find out!

The Top 10 TV Ratings Moments of 2011, 5 to 1

I'm back with the top half of the Top 10 TV Ratings Moments of 2011. The first half went up yesterday. To reiterate from yesterday, I'm linking below to some of my more elaborate writings on these top ratings moments of 2011. Let the controversy begin, and please lemme know if you think I missed a real biggie!

SpotVault - Who's Still Standing? (NBC) - 2011-12

Who's Still Standing?

Mondays, 8/7c, NBC

SpotVault - Fear Factor (NBC) - 2011-12

Fear Factor

Mondays, 9/8c, NBC

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 12/18/11 (FINALS)

WHAT MATTERS:

• CBS was near season-high levels for football-fueled 60 Minutes, which led into the finale of Survivor. As was the case last spring, this finale took a major uptick from pretty much the whole rest of the season, another indication that the show (which faced The X Factor for the first time this fall and American Idol for the first time last spring) is airing in a more difficult timeslot situation than it did for much of its previous history.

• NBC had its second-weakest Sunday Night Football game of the season thanks to a bad matchup and a blowout.

Spotted Ratings, Saturday 12/17/11 (FINALS)

WHAT MATTERS:

• Fox "dominated" a very special-filled Saturday with their second America's Most Wanted special of the season, but it was much weaker than the previous one on 10/29/11.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 12/18/11 (2011-12 Week 13)

Sunday Night Football won the True Top 25 yet again this week despite hitting its second-lowest numbers of the season. This was the year's last "heavily original" week, but overall viewing still dipped a bit from recent weeks (and should dip even more next week). 2 Broke Girls aired at 8/7c for the first time and, while it hit a demo series low, it was pretty close to its 4.47 TRUE average to date. It took top scripted honors as Two and a Half Men had a particularly weak outing, tying a season low in demo despite little competition (especially from ESPN's weak football game). Perhaps its pairing with original 2BG has meant more than I gave it credit for.

This week had the most 3.00+ scores in three weeks thanks in large part to a triple-dose of Survivor. Prepare for that number to drastically decline next week, as football and the two-night finale of The X Factor feel like the only originals that'll have much of a shot to get there.

Spotted Ratings, Monday 12/19/11 (FINALS)

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC's proven once again that the post-Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? brand of game show is still pretty much dormant, as Who's Still Standing? kicked off a weeklong strip with just a 1.5 demo. That's weaker than last year's holiday strip debut (Fox's Million Dollar Money Drop, which got a 1.9 and 2.0 on premiere night) and certainly miles away from the early ratings of previous examples like Deal or No Deal.

• Lead-out Fear Factor certainly came down to earth, dropping by 29% from last week's airing in the same timeslot. I don't think it's Truly that bad, since Fox (with Terra Nova) and especially ESPN's Monday Night Football (6.4) were much stronger than last week, but it certainly doesn't look like such a big game-changer now. (MNF sidenote: it was the first time this season that MNF has outrated NBC's Sunday game on the previous evening.)

• As for Terra Nova, it didn't teach us anything new, gaining just a tenth on finale night and signing off with its fifth straight episode in the low 2s.

The Top 10 TV Ratings Moments of 2011, 10 to 6

I banged this out this weekend, so the Top 10 Moments are arriving a week early! This is my second annual attempt to boil a whole year of TV ratings developments down to the ten most splashy and/or significant moments. The top five will go up at this time tomorrow. ARE UP!

For more, check out last year's list. The Top 10 TV Ratings Moments of 2010: 10 to 6 | 5 to 1

Since I've gotten into fairly regular writing about TV ratings this year, I'm going to take advantage of that and link back to some of my more elaborate writings on these top ratings moments of 2011. Many to most of these deserved a lot more ink than I can spill in these short spaces to which I constrain myself, so I recommend looking back on some of the bold links below if you're up for some further reflection. (And all ten of these links except the Jersey Shore one are written in the relatively immediate aftermath, which might be a neat perspective to look back on.) Here goes!

War of 18-49 Update, The Biggest Loser (Fall 2011)

Let's take a look at the fall 2011 season (the twelfth overall) of The Biggest Loser on NBC.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 12/16/11 (FINALS)

WHAT MATTERS:

• Chuck and Grimm both downticked to close out the year, while a 20/20 special posted the newsmagazine's lowest ratings this season.

War of 18-49 Update, America's Next Top Model (Fall 2011)

Let's take a look at the fall 2011 season (the seventeenth overall) of America's Next Top Model on the CW.

Schedule Five-Spot, WE 12/18/11 - The Finder, The League, EM:HE, Undercover Boss, Off Their Rockers

Here's the Schedule Five-Spot for the week ending December 18, 2011 (plus one from two weeks ago):

The Finder - One note from an otherwise slow WE 12/11/11 was that Fox rectified one of the strangest items from its midseason announcement. Previously, Fox was planning to launch Bones spin-off The Finder with no real support after a repeat of Bones on January 12. Now, Fox has moved an original into the 8:00 hour. Not only should this help The Finder, but it'll be a good indicator of where Bones (which has had big lead-ins all season) is really at.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 12/15/11 (FINALS)

As we enter arguably the two slowest ratings weeks of the year, I may wait till finals comes out on a lot of these posts for the rest of December. I'll just play it by ear.

WHAT MATTERS:

• CBS had original entertainment programs for 2.5 hours, with only The Big Bang Theory in repeats. Rules of Engagement dropped a relatively expected amount under the circumstances (still a season low), then the rest of the night was steady and above average from there.

War of 18-49 Update, The Amazing Race (Fall 2011)

Let's take a look at the fall 2011 season (the nineteenth overall) of The Amazing Race on CBS.

The War of 18-49, Jersey Shore

JERSEY SHORE (MTV)

Scheduling history: All but three of Jersey Shore's episodes have aired on Thursday.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 12/14/11

WHAT MATTERS:

• The big winner of this Wednesday was CSI, which took a big spike from recent results to its highest number since early October. This came despite its CBS teammates Survivor and Criminal Minds tying season lows.

• Week three of I Hate My Teenage Daughter hurt the show's prospects even more, as it dropped another three tenths even with competing comedy Happy Endings out of the way.

• ABC went with three comedy repeats and annual Barbara Walters special The 10 Most Fascinating People, which was much weaker than in recent years.

Ratings Five-Spot, WE 12/11/11 - Once Upon a Time, Hell on Wheels, Luck, Fear Factor, 2 Broke Girls

This week's Ratings Five-Spot at SpoilerTV takes a look at the recent struggles of Once Upon a Time and Hell on Wheels, the soft preview ratings from HBO's Luck, the big debut of Fear Factor and the 8:00 tryout for 2 Broke Girls. Check it out!

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 12/13/11 (FINALS)

WHAT MATTERS:

• The Biggest Loser typically makes big ratings gains on finale night, and this Tuesday's was no exception; it posted a season high and was up 23% from last week. But this finale was still down a stout 33% year-to-year, a bigger decline than any other Biggest Loser data point this season (meaning the show spiked even more last year).

• A week after its Christmas episode, Last Man Standing returned with another original and collapsed, and it becomes the latest series to limp into the holiday hiatus. It had a bit more competition with NCIS back, but not that much more. The only redeeming news for ABC was a pretty good showing from the 8:30 LMS encore (25% better than the week-ago Man Up!), and that seemed to help the 9:00 The Middle encore too.

The True Top 25, Week Ending 12/11/11 (2011-12 Week 12)

Despite quite a few of the usual heavy hitters returning to originals, there were still just twelve shows above a 3.00 TRUE in this week's True Top 25. The comfortable winner was a well-above average Sunday Night Football game between Dallas and New York. In the last of 2011's The Big Bang Theory vs. Modern Family showdowns, it was yet another win for Big Bang. But the gap narrowed considerably from some of their recent battles, as both shows were down significantly from their last "regular" originals.

In a week filled with specials, the only top 25er of the bunch was the one that aired in the first hour of the week, ABC's classic A Charlie Brown Christmas. Among holiday specials, this was Truly the third-biggest of the season to date, trailing just CBS' Rudolph and (by the slimmest of margins) that Fox new Ice Age special on Thanksgiving.

A couple other observations: Two and a Half Men slipped behind the HIMYM/2 Broke Girls duo for the first time this season. It's not totally clear how things will shake down once PUT-boosting Monday Night Football is out of the mix, but my instinct is that this isn't the last time this will happen. (I am particularly sure that 2 Broke Girls' 8:00 episode this week will beat Men again.) And it was a pretty weak week for Fox, as their Tuesday lineup dropped against very little competition and The X Factor hit easily its weakest performance Wednesday numbers yet.

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 12/11/11 (FINALS)

WHAT MATTERS:

• The story on Sunday remains the continued drops from Once Upon a Time. You can certainly assign some blame to the fact that it was ABC's only original on the evening, but a bad indicator for this show is that it's now dropped at 8:30 for the second straight week (after rising at 8:30 in its first five episodes). Now it leaves the air for four weeks, but at least it'll return alongside other originals on ABC.

• Elsewhere, CBS got season highs on The Amazing Race finale night, while an attractive matchup plus a great game gave NBC above-average Sunday Night Football ratings and the best in almost three months. Three of the five biggest SNF games this season have involved 'dem Cowboys.

Spotted Ratings, Saturday 12/10/11 (FINALS)

WHAT MATTERS:

• It was a very special Saturday, with all of the three-hour networks devoting at least two hours to special programming. The demo champ was CBS thanks to this year's second helping of Rudolph (though it only got 40% of its demo from Tuesday 11/29/11). ABC rode the Republican Debate to the total viewer crown, while NBC completely bombed with the American Giving Awards, one of the lowest-rated programs in the history of broadcast TV.

The War of 18-49, Sons of Anarchy

SONS OF ANARCHY (FX)

Scheduling history: After airing its first season on Wednesday, FX's Sons of Anarchy moved to Tuesday and has aired there ever since.

Spotted Ratings, Monday 12/12/11

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC brought back Fear Factor in extremely solid fashion. This was nearly double the demo of its last airing (a 1.8 on September 12, 2006) and more than double the timeslot average of The Sing-Off this fall. Among entertainment programming on NBC this season, only The Office premiere (3.9) and the Up All Night premiere (3.7) have done better than the 9:00 episode. This kind of reminds me of the big numbers NBC got out of the box from their American Gladiators revival (5.9 on 1/6/08); let's see if it can hold up better than that show did. But this big start provided no particularly meaningful boost to Rock Center.

• The underwhelming results continue for Terra Nova, which tied a series low, although Fear Factor seems like a show that may have some crossover audience. The two-hour finale is next week.

• In a special 8:00 airing, 2 Broke Girls did worse than almost all How I Met Your Mother airings in the timeslot this season (and worse than all its own airings), which would seem to line up with my sense that the show's a little Truly weaker than HIMYM, but these numbers are still quite good and very much anchor-worthy for CBS.

War of 18-49 Update, Dancing with the Stars (Fall 2011)

Let's take a look at the fall 2011 season (the thirteenth overall) of Dancing with the Stars on ABC.

SpotVault - 2011-12 Index

This is a sortable list of series and ratings averages for the 2011-12 season, including every series that has a page in the SpotVault or War of 18-49. For the first time, it is also a filterable list, meaning you can boil the table down to just one network, one category of programming or only new shows. (The striped formatting looks kinda ugly when filtered, but hopefully that is worth the added functionality.)

SpotVault - 2010-11 Index

This is a sortable list of series and ratings averages for the 2010-11 season, including every series that has a page in the SpotVault or War of 18-49. For the first time, it is also a filterable list, meaning you can boil the table down to just one network, one category of programming or only new shows. (The striped formatting looks kinda ugly when filtered, but hopefully that is worth the added functionality.)

SpotVault - 2009-10 Index

This is a sortable list of series and ratings averages for the 2009-10 season, including every series that has a page in the SpotVault or War of 18-49. For the first time, it is also a filterable list, meaning you can boil the table down to just one network, one category of programming or only new shows. (The striped formatting looks kinda ugly when filtered, but hopefully that is worth the added functionality.)

SpotVault - 2008-09 Index

This is a sortable list of series and ratings averages for the 2008-09 season, including every series that has a page in the SpotVault or War of 18-49. For the first time, it is also a filterable list, meaning you can boil the table down to just one network, one category of programming or only new shows. (The striped formatting looks kinda ugly when filtered, but hopefully that is worth the added functionality.)

SpotVault - 2007-08 Index

This is a sortable list of series and ratings averages for the 2007-08 season, including every series that has a page in the SpotVault or War of 18-49. For the first time, it is also a filterable list, meaning you can boil the table down to just one network, one category of programming or only new shows. (The striped formatting looks kinda ugly when filtered, but hopefully that is worth the added functionality.)

SpotVault - 2006-07 Index

This is a sortable list of series and ratings averages for the 2006-07 season, including every series that has a page in the SpotVault or War of 18-49. For the first time, it is also a filterable list, meaning you can boil the table down to just one network, one category of programming or only new shows. (The striped formatting looks kinda ugly when filtered, but hopefully that is worth the added functionality.)

SpotVault - 2005-06 Index

This is a sortable list of series and ratings averages for the 2005-06 season, including every series that has a page in the SpotVault or War of 18-49. For the first time, it is also a filterable list, meaning you can boil the table down to just one network, one category of programming or only new shows. (The striped formatting looks kinda ugly when filtered, but hopefully that is worth the added functionality.)

SpotVault - 2004-05 Index

This is a sortable list of series and ratings averages for the 2004-05 season, including every series that has a page in the SpotVault or War of 18-49. For the first time, it is also a filterable list, meaning you can boil the table down to just one network, one category of programming or only new shows. (The striped formatting looks kinda ugly when filtered, but hopefully that is worth the added functionality.)

SpotVault - 2003-04 Index

This is a sortable list of series and ratings averages for the 2003-04 season, including every series that has a page in the SpotVault or War of 18-49. For the first time, it is also a filterable list, meaning you can boil the table down to just one network, one category of programming or only new shows. (The striped formatting looks kinda ugly when filtered, but hopefully that is worth the added functionality.)

SpotVault - 2002-03 Index

This is a sortable list of series and ratings averages for the 2002-03 season, including every series that has a page in the SpotVault or War of 18-49. For the first time, it is also a filterable list, meaning you can boil the table down to just one network, one category of programming or only new shows. (The striped formatting looks kinda ugly when filtered, but hopefully that is worth the added functionality.)

SpotVault - 2001-02 Index

This is a sortable list of series and ratings averages for the 2001-02 season, including every series that has a page in the SpotVault or War of 18-49. For the first time, it is also a filterable list, meaning you can boil the table down to just one network, one category of programming or only new shows. (The striped formatting looks kinda ugly when filtered, but hopefully that is worth the added functionality.)

SpotVault - 2000-01 Index

SpotVault - 1999-2000 Index

SpotVault - The Cleveland Show (Fox) - 2010-11

The Cleveland Show

Sundays, 8:30/7:30c and Sundays, 9:30/8:30c, Fox

SpotVault - The Cleveland Show (Fox) - 2009-10

The Cleveland Show

Sundays, 8:30/7:30c, Fox

Spotted Ratings, Friday 12/9/11

WHAT MATTERS:

• Grimm's return to Friday was somewhat encouraging, as it matched its last two Friday numbers along with the previous night's Thursday 1.6. I'd still expect this showing to finish Truly a little weaker than the pre-hiatus 1.6s because every single competing drama (Fringe, Supernatural, CSI: NY) was in repeats or off. NBC also got above-average outings from Chuck and Dateline.

• On CBS, the holiday special upswing continues. Frosty the Snowman and Frosty Returns were both up from last year (when they aired on Saturday). EDIT: Last year they first aired on Saturday, but later aired on Friday to a 1.7 and 1.4 respectively. Interestingly, the 9:00 duo of Yes, Virginia and Elf on the Shelf actually both exceeded the demo ratings they got in their first runs (Virginia debuted with a 1.3 on 12/11/09 and Elf got a 1.1 two weeks ago).

Extreme Makeover: Vault Edition

A quick update on what's happened and what's to come this month:

You've probably noticed that I've gone into overdrive with the previous seasons' ratings in the last few days. I have now gotten to the point where almost all the programs with current season Vault pages have all the historical info (at least for originals) in my possession.* But this was only phase one.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 12/8/11

WHAT MATTERS:

• I laid out all the reasons why Grimm could underperform on Thursday, then picked a high-ish number anyway. My 1.9 guess was pretty far off, as Grimm actually equaled the ratings of its last two Friday episodes. Tonight's Friday airing should give us some sense of how "true" this underperformance is. (That is, if it gets a 1.4 or lower tonight, it's probably more about the show itself actually declining across the hiatus.) That said, the show still at least did better than all episodes but the first of Prime Suspect in the hour.

• It seems ABC's comedies weren't the only ones prone to big drops after a long break, as The Big Bang Theory and Rules of Engagement were both significantly weaker than in their last episodes three weeks ago. And the return of Big Bang crushed what little momentum Community gained from its last airing (when Bang was in repeats).

• In the drama wars, CBS' pair was above average, with Person of Interest pulling ahead of big-declining Bones at 9/8c.

First Two Weeks, I Hate My Teenage Daughter

How nice of Fox to give us one last reminder that this feature exists before the new year...


I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER (FOX)

SpotVault - Law & Order: SVU (NBC) - 2010-11

Law and Order: SVU

Wednesdays, 9/8c and Wednesdays, 10/9c, NBC

SpotVault - Law & Order: SVU (NBC) - 2009-10

Law & Order: SVU

Wednesdays, 9/8c and Wednesdays, 10/9c, NBC

SpotVault - Law & Order: SVU (NBC) - 2008-09

Law & Order: SVU

Tuesdays, 10/9c, NBC

SpotVault - Law & Order: SVU (NBC) - 2007-08

Law & Order: SVU

Tuesdays, 10/9c, NBC

SpotVault - Law & Order: SVU (NBC) - 2006-07

Law & Order: SVU

Tuesdays, 10/9c, NBC

SpotVault - Law & Order: SVU (NBC) - 2005-06

Law & Order: SVU

Tuesdays, 10/9c, NBC

SpotVault - Law & Order: SVU (NBC) - 2004-05

Law & Order: SVU

Tuesdays, 10/9c, NBC

SpotVault - Law & Order: SVU (NBC) - 2003-04

Law & Order: SVU

Tuesdays, 10/9c, NBC

SpotVault - Law & Order: SVU (NBC) - 2002-03

Law & Order: SVU

Fridays, 10/9c, NBC

SpotVault - Law & Order: SVU (NBC) - 2001-02

Law & Order: SVU

Fridays, 10/9c, NBC

SpotVault - Law & Order: SVU (NBC) - 2000-01

Law & Order: SVU

Fridays, 10/9c, NBC

SpotVault - Law & Order: SVU (NBC) - 1999-2000

Law & Order: SVU

Mondays, 9/8c and Fridays, 10/9c, NBC

SpotVault - The Amazing Race (CBS) - Spring 2011

The Amazing Race

Sundays, 8/7c, CBS

SpotVault - The Amazing Race (CBS) - Fall 2010

The Amazing Race

Sundays, 8/7c, CBS

SpotVault - The Amazing Race (CBS) - Spring 2010

The Amazing Race

Sundays, 8/7c, CBS

SpotVault - The Amazing Race (CBS) - Fall 2009

The Amazing Race

Sundays, 8/7c, CBS

SpotVault - The Amazing Race (CBS) - Spring 2009

The Amazing Race

Sundays, 8/7c, CBS

SpotVault - The Amazing Race (CBS) - Fall 2008

The Amazing Race

Sundays, 8/7c, CBS

SpotVault - The Amazing Race (CBS) - Fall 2007

The Amazing Race

Sundays, 8/7c, CBS

SpotVault - The Amazing Race (CBS) - Spring 2007

The Amazing Race

Sundays, 8/7c, CBS

SpotVault - The Amazing Race (CBS) - Fall 2006

The Amazing Race

Sundays, 8/7c, CBS

SpotVault - The Amazing Race (CBS) - Spring 2006

The Amazing Race

Tuesdays, 9/8c and Wednesdays, 8/7c, CBS

SpotVault - The Amazing Race (CBS) - Fall 2005

The Amazing Race

Tuesdays, 9/8c, CBS

SpotVault - The Amazing Race (CBS) - Spring 2005

The Amazing Race

Tuesdays, 9/8c, CBS

SpotVault - The Amazing Race (CBS) - Fall 2004

The Amazing Race

Tuesdays, 9/8c, CBS

SpotVault - The Amazing Race (CBS) - Summer 2004

The Amazing Race

Tuesdays, 10/9c, CBS

SpotVault - The Amazing Race (CBS) - Summer 2003

The Amazing Race

Thursday, 8/7c, CBS

SpotVault - The Amazing Race (CBS) - Fall 2002

The Amazing Race

Wednesdays, 9/8c, CBS

SpotVault - The Amazing Race (CBS) - Spring 2002

The Amazing Race

Wednesdays, 9/8c, CBS

SpotVault - The Amazing Race (CBS) - Fall 2001

The Amazing Race

Wednesdays, 9/8c, CBS

SpotVault - Dancing with the Stars (ABC) - Spring 2011

Dancing with the Stars

Mondays and Tuesdays on ABC

SpotVault - Dancing with the Stars (ABC) - Fall 2010

Dancing with the Stars

Mondays and Tuesdays on ABC

SpotVault - Dancing with the Stars (ABC) - Spring 2010

Dancing with the Stars

Mondays and Tuesdays on ABC