As on the Weekly True Power Rankings, these True2 and A18-49 numbers are averages of the last third of the season's episodes to date rounded up (and, new in this edition, excluding most season finales). The number of episodes in the average is listed under "Counted Eps." These numbers are all through March 3.
Other March True Power Rankings: ABC | CBS | NBC | Fox | CW
| CBS Comedies | True2 | A18-49 | Counted Eps | Eps | |
| The Fab Five | |||||
| 1 | The Big Bang Theory | 5.90 | 5.87 | 6 | 17 |
| 2 | How I Met Your Mother | 3.29 | 3.58 | 6 | 17 |
| 3 | Two and a Half Men | 3.25 | 4.07 | 6 | 17 |
| 4 | 2 Broke Girls | 3.14 | 3.65 | 6 | 18 |
| 5 | Mike and Molly | 2.73 | 3.15 | 6 | 16 |
OK, so here's quick revisiting of the "CBS comedy expansion" discussion, since it's been awhile since I last beat this dead horse. What are the pros and cons of the expansion decision this year vs. the expansion decision last year? Here's what we know.
Same:
- Five slam dunk full-season renewals in three hours.
Pros:
- The Big Bang Theory is now the most valuable series lead-in on broadcast TV. It seems unlikely it will be used on Two and a Half Men again next year, but moving Men back to Monday would be kind of awkward.
Cons:
- Aside from TBBT, the other comedies are not as strong. The reason expansion was so compelling last year was that all the comedies, even the second-tier ones, were way out ahead of pretty much every other scripted show on TV. They're still among the top tier, but that lead is not quite as overwhelming anymore.
- Inability to renew Rob. It was a marginal candidate that could've come back as a reserve in a four-hour world last year. They can't do that this year. It also might be harder to renew Rules of Engagement since contracts are up. This is a significant con.
As always, what we don't know is development. BUT... there sure are a lot of big names on this list across a lot of shows. Anna Faris' Mom sounds like a very good bet, but is that the only one to make the fall sked?!
All I'm saying is that development might make this happen even though, peripherally speaking, it seems like an even worse decision than last year... when they didn't do it. It was easy to have one new comedy when comedy #1 was Partners, but that might not be as easy this year. And with this quantity of single-camera comedies, it's hard to imagine CBS not making a push into that space next season. But I'm not sure that has to be at 9:00 on Thursday. They may go off on their own somewhere. (Sunday?)
| CBS Comedies | True2 | A18-49 | Counted Eps | Eps | |
| The Red-Headed Stepchild | |||||
| 6 | Rules of Engagement | 2.27 | 2.80 | 2 | 4 |
If CBS adds comedy, even if it's a single-cam hour on some other night, I would think they'd want Rules of Engagement as a backup, but David Spade joining a pilot suggests they may not be too serious about that option. But unless they're ordering a single-cam hour and multiple new multi-cams, which would not be a very CBS thing to do, I would think they'd want a multi-cam backup. Maybe Mom is such a stone cold sure thing that those could be the only six multi-cams, but that's still a big risk.
On the other hand, if CBS has three comedy hours next season, it's almost impossible to imagine them needing Rules.
| CBS Comedies | True2 | A18-49 | Counted Eps | Eps | |
| The Dunzo | |||||
| 7 | Partners | 1.47 | 1.95 | 2 | 6 |
| CBS Dramas | True2 | A18-49 | Counted Eps | Eps | |
| The Elite | |||||
| 1 | NCIS | 3.37 | 3.63 | 6 | 16 |
| 2 | Criminal Minds | 3.08 | 2.85 | 6 | 16 |
| 3 | Person of Interest | 2.97 | 3.15 | 6 | 16 |
Not that the show's in danger or anything, but I can't really figure out why Criminal Minds has gotten raw numbers weaker since its lead-in got much better with Survivor's return. It seems more likely, looking at the True2 scores across the season, that it just really overachieved during the Survivor hiatus for some reason, and it's now back to approximately the same True level as in the fall.
| CBS Dramas | True2 | A18-49 | Counted Eps | Eps | |
| The Second Tier | |||||
| 4 | NCIS: Los Angeles | 2.48 | 2.92 | 6 | 16 |
| 5 | Elementary | 2.39 | 2.35 | 6 | 16 |
| 6 | CSI | 2.17 | 2.23 | 6 | 16 |
| 7 | Hawaii Five-0 | 2.02 | 2.43 | 6 | 17 |
The second tier is pretty much the same shows as all sesaon, but there's been a lot of separation among what was a very tightly-packed tier when last we did this. Namely, CSI has weakened (particularly in the last three episodes), while Hawaii Five-0 has weakened a lot. As mentioned in the ABC post with Castle, this is largely about a drastic decrease in competition with football and Revolution gone.
Both shows will be back, but their scheduling has been thrown a bit into question with the continued mediocrity. If they want to move one to Friday, CSI certainly "feels" more like a Friday show than Five-0. I'm not really sure where Five-0 could be favorably moved.
There's also the possibility NCIS: LA could move to make way for the new spin-off, or Elementary could get jettisoned by a comedy expansion. So I don't know that any of these shows are safe from a "keeping their timeslots" standpoint.
| CBS Dramas | True2 | A18-49 | Counted Eps | Eps | |
| The Bubble | |||||
| 8 | Blue Bloods | 1.86 | 1.48 | 6 | 16 |
| 9 | The Mentalist | 1.84 | 1.84 | 5 | 15 |
| 10 | CSI: NY | 1.75 | 1.48 | 6 | 16 |
| 11 | Golden Boy | 1.65 | 1.80 | 1 | 1 |
| 12 | The Good Wife | 1.44 | 1.62 | 5 | 15 |
| 13 | Vegas | 1.43 | 1.62 | 5 | 15 |
If it were me, Blue Bloods is safe for another year on Friday, The Mentalist is a true toss-up (in a year with very few true toss-ups) but I would probably bring it back, and the rest are done. But it's not me. CBS may reach for The Good Wife again, and (as far as I know) it is difficult to get at whether they will do that just by looking at the ratings we have. Even giving it a "Sunday numbers are deflated" bonus, it's still hard to make the case.
| CBS Dramas | True2 | A18-49 | Counted Eps | Eps | |
| The Dunzo | |||||
| 14 | Made in Jersey | 0.57 | 0.37 | 3 | 8 |
| CBS Unscripted | True2 | A18-49 | Counted Eps | Eps | |
| 1 | Survivor Spring | 2.82 | 2.60 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | Survivor Fall | 2.62 | 2.66 | 5 | 13 |
| 3 | Undercover Boss | 2.04 | 1.78 | 4 | 10 |
| 4 | The Amazing Race Spring | 2.03 | 2.50 | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | The Amazing Race Fall | 1.97 | 2.53 | 4 | 10 |
| 6 | 60 Minutes | 1.43 | 1.81 | 7 | 19 |
| 7 | 48 Hours | 1.27 | 1.00 | 7 | 19 |
| 8 | The Job | 0.85 | 0.70 | 1 | 2 |
