- Welcome to television, Marvel. Agents of SHIELD began at a number that puts it in the pantheon of recent series premieres, especially once you adjust for the ratings environment. You can count on one hand the number of scripted shows in the last decade that have premiered at even double the big four's entertainment original average, and SHIELD looks like it could be at... 2.4x? 2.5x the league average? It could even out-Plus the 2008 premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which scored a 7.7 in 2008 (2.35x the league average). And that was with a playoff football lead-in!
- Personally I say the SHIELD launch far outweighs any of ABC's bad news, but there was bad news to be sure. The erosion was steep throughout ABC's all-new Tuesday, from The Goldbergs to Trophy Wife to Lucky 7. It's abundantly obvious that Lucky 7 is not at all long for this world, but the comedies are not quite as clear just yet.
- NBC won its second straight night behind The Voice. It built huge in the much weaker 9:00 hour (averaging a prelim 5.0/5.3), which gave a significant boost to the season two premiere of Chicago Fire, four tenths above its previous series high.
- CBS remained respectable with the NCIS pair, with the mothership adjusting up in finals to erode the exact same amount year-to-year (-12%) against SHIELD as NCIS: Los Angeles (-12%) at 9:00. But the network had a thud at 10/9c for the second straight night with Person of Interest (2.3). It actually dropped more year-to-year in its move to Tuesday (-21%) than either of the NCIS twins, though it was down a little less in the timeslot (-8% vs. Vegas). It's disappointing for PoI, but it could look like an all-star once the network's other 10:00 results come in.
- I said last week that the key for the new Fox comedies was that they had to be able to withstand a one-third drop. And that's pretty much exactly what happened for Dads (-32%) and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (-31%). Against a combined 12.0 rating from the Big Three, I don't consider those all that terrible, but they won't want to drop much/any more. Returnees New Girl (-28%) and The Mindy Project (-21%) also came back to reality, basically reverting to their typical spring numbers.
- For the second straight night, the Big Four were up year-to-year, this time by 9%, but this time it was a little more mixed by network. NBC (riding an additional Voice hour) was up 46%, SHIELD-fueled ABC was up 41%, CBS down 11%, Fox down 32% vs. a double-New Girl premiere night last year.
FULL TABLE:
| Info | Show | Timeslot | True | |||||||
| A18-49 | Skew | Last | LeLa | Rank | y2y | TLa | Ty2y | |||
| Agents of SHIELD | 4.7 | 49% | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1/1 | n/a | +292% | +169% | 4.6 |
| The Goldbergs | 3.1 | 44% | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1/1 | n/a | +158% | +29% | 2.5 |
| Trophy Wife | 2.3 | 44% | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1/1 | n/a | +92% | -12% | 1.9 |
| Lucky 7 | 1.3 | 37% | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1/1 | n/a | +8% | -32% | 1.2 |
| ABC: | +142% | +41% | ||||||||
| NCIS | 3.6 | 23% | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1/1 | -12% | +157% | -13% | 3.6 |
| NCIS: Los Angeles | 3.0 | 23% | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1/1 | -12% | +173% | -12% | 2.5 |
| Person of Interest | 2.3 | 23% | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1/1 | -21% | +130% | -8% | 1.9 |
| CBS: | +154% | -11% | ||||||||
| The Voice Tue | 4.7 | 42% | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1/1 | +18% | +169% | +45% | 4.5 |
| Chicago Fire | 2.7 | 39% | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1/1 | +42% | +13% | +50% | 2.0 |
| NBC: | +105% | +46% | ||||||||
| Dads | 1.5 | 52% | -0.7 | -32% | n/a | 2/2 | n/a | -32% | -46% | 1.5 |
| Brooklyn Nine-Nine | 1.8 | 57% | -0.8 | -31% | -70% | 2/2 | n/a | -31% | -14% | 1.9 |
| New Girl | 2.1 | 66% | -0.8 | -28% | -80% | 2/2 | -25% | -28% | -25% | 2.1 |
| The Mindy Project | 1.5 | 65% | -0.4 | -21% | -80% | 2/2 | -21% | -21% | -38% | 1.5 |
| Fox: | -28% | -32% | ||||||||
| Whose Line Is It Anyway? | 0.5 | 49% | -0.4 | -44% | n/a | 2/2 | n/a | -44% | +150% | 0.5 |
| Whose Line Is It Anyway? (R) | 0.4 | 42% | -50% | +100% | 0.5 | |||||
| Capture | 0.2 | 37% | -0.2 | -50% | -40% | 3/3 | n/a | -50% | +0% | 0.2 |
| CW: | -48% | +63% | ||||||||
| Big5: | +62% | +10% | ||||||||
KEY (click to expand)
A18-49 - Adults 18-49 rating. Percentage of US TV-owning adults 18-49 watching the program.
Skew - Percentage of adults 18-49 within the show's total viewership.
Last - A18-49 difference (percent and numerical) from the show's previous episode.
LeLa - A18-49 difference between the show's lead-in and its lead-in for the previous episode.
Rank - The A18-49 rating's rank among the show's episodes so far this season.
y2y - Percent difference between A18-49 and the show's rating a year ago.
TLa - Percent difference between A18-49 and the network's rating in the timeslot one week ago.
Ty2y - Percent difference between A18-49 and the network's rating in the timeslot one year ago.
True - A metric that adjusts the A18-49 rating for overall viewing levels, competition and lead-in. PRELIMINARY CALCULATION. For finals, see SpotVault.
(R) - Repeat.
Much more detail on these numbers at the New Daily Spotted Ratings page.
Skew - Percentage of adults 18-49 within the show's total viewership.
Last - A18-49 difference (percent and numerical) from the show's previous episode.
LeLa - A18-49 difference between the show's lead-in and its lead-in for the previous episode.
Rank - The A18-49 rating's rank among the show's episodes so far this season.
y2y - Percent difference between A18-49 and the show's rating a year ago.
TLa - Percent difference between A18-49 and the network's rating in the timeslot one week ago.
Ty2y - Percent difference between A18-49 and the network's rating in the timeslot one year ago.
True - A metric that adjusts the A18-49 rating for overall viewing levels, competition and lead-in. PRELIMINARY CALCULATION. For finals, see SpotVault.
(R) - Repeat.
Much more detail on these numbers at the New Daily Spotted Ratings page.
More Spotted Ratings in the Index.
