First Two Weeks, Perfect Couples

PERFECT COUPLES (NBC)



WEEK ONE
Even if you don't count the anemic 1.3 sneak preview in December (which for purposes of this exercise, I don't), the premiere of Perfect Couples was pretty ho-hum at best, pulling a 2.1 demo. Yes, it had to go up against American Idol, but this is still one of the season's lowest premiere numbers. It declined from the 2.2 demo of 8pm lead-in Community, but not catastrophically so.

WEEK TWO
Then came the even worse news, as it dropped 19% to a mere 1.7 in week two despite its Community lead-in (which admittedly didn't face an original Big Bang Theory this time) holding steady at a 2.2. That's a 23% drop from the lead-in, a far cry from the performances of previous occupants Parks & Recreation, which usually held nearly all of the Community demo at 8:30, and 30 Rock, which typically built against the weaker comedy competition on CBS this fall.

PROGNOSIS
Airing against Idol is arguably a bit of a raw deal, but there are really no indicators working in this show's favor; the critics hate it (certainly compared to the other comedies in NBC's first 2.5 hours), the premiere number was lukewarm, the week 2 drop was bad, and it's losing fairly substantially from its lead-in despite higher HUT and weaker CBS comedy competition at 8:30. It's not clear at this early juncture whether NBC will continue with the three-hour "Comedy Night Done Right All Night," but either way, it looks quite unlikely Perfect Couples will be a part of it. I'm saying one and done.

SYSTEM (explanation)

WEEK ONE (tiers worth 4, 2, 0 points)
Bob's Burgers 4.5
$#*! My Dad Says 4.0
Hawaii Five-0 3.9
Mike & Molly 3.9
The Event 3.6
Outsourced 3.6
No Ordinary Family 3.2
Law & Order: Los Angeles 3.2

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Hellcats (3.2)
Raising Hope 3.1
The Defenders 2.9
Blue Bloods (2.8)
Nikita (2.7)
The Cape 2.6 
Better with You 2.5 
Running Wilde 2.4
Off the Map 2.3

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Chase 2.3
Outlaw 2.3
Detroit 1-8-7 2.3
Harry's Law 2.2 
Undercovers 2.1
Perfect Couples 2.1
My Generation 1.6
The Whole Truth 1.5
Lone Star 1.3

Friday premieres = 1.25 * A18-49
CW premieres = 1.5 * W18-34

WEEK TWO (tiers worth 2, 1, 0 points)
Raising Hope even
Harry's Law -5% 
Mike & Molly -5%
Hawaii Five-0 -8%
Chase -9%
Detroit 1-8-7 -9%
Off the Map -9%
Blue Bloods-9%

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Better with You -12%
The Defenders -14%
No Ordinary Family -16%
Nikita -17%
$#*! My Dad Says -18%
Hellcats -19%
Perfect Couples -19%
The Event -19%
The Whole Truth -20%

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Running Wilde -21%
Outsourced -22%
Lone Star -23%
Undercovers -24%
Law & Order: Los Angeles -25%
The Cape -31% 
My Generation -31%
Bob's Burgers -44%
Outlaw -52%

EXCELLENT (5-6 points): Hawaii Five-0, Mike & Molly (6 points), The Event, $#*! My Dad Says, No Ordinary Family (5 points)
BORDERLINE (3-4 points): Law & Order: Los Angeles, Outsourced, Raising Hope, Blue Bloods, Bob's Burgers, Off the Map (4 points), The Defenders, Nikita, Hellcats, Better with You (3 points)
IN TROUBLE (0-2 points): Detroit 1-8-7, Chase, The Cape, Running Wilde, Harry's Law (2 points), The Whole Truth, Perfect Couples (1 point), Outlaw, Undercovers, My Generation, Lone Star (0 points)