Other October True Power Rankings: ABC | CBS | NBC | Fox | CW
| CBS Comedies | True | A18-49 | Skew | y2y | Counted Eps | ||
| The Elite | |||||||
| 1 | The Big Bang Theory | 5.32 | 5.20 | 37% | +10% | 2 | |
| 2 | How I Met Your Mother | 3.11 | 3.05 | 50% | -1% | 2 | |
Since CBS will still have The Big Bang Theory, the loss of How I Met Your Mother is not quite as striking as the loss of The Office was for NBC comedy last year, but because none of the new shows seem to have real anchor potential, it's pretty close. It's got CBS talking spin-off!
| CBS Comedies | True | A18-49 | Skew | y2y | Counted Eps | ||
| The Second Tier | |||||||
| 3 | The Millers | 2.34 | 2.95 | 32% | 2 | ||
| 4 | 2 Broke Girls | 2.30 | 2.55 | 41% | -27% | 2 | |
| 5 | Two and a Half Men | 2.08 | 2.20 | 32% | -34% | 2 | |
| 6 | Mom | 2.03 | 2.15 | 39% | 2 | ||
| 7 | The Crazy Ones | 2.03 | 2.35 | 32% | 2 | ||
Like with the ABC newbies, the CBS shows are closely-packed enough that relatively minor fluctuations can seem like big game-changers. The Millers appeared to be emerging as the strongest of these shows, even in a True sense, but Mom bumping up to 2.3 last week followed by The Millers crashing to 2.7 on Thursday seemingly put all three new shows on roughly equal footing. They're all gonna be around for the full season, so there will be a lot of time for this to sort out. True gives The Millers the edge right now since it's really only had one "bad" week, but it'd do well to bounce back.
Though all the new shows have been fairly disappointing, I still think a couple of them survive even if CBS drops a comedy hour, but mostly that's because I'm operating under the assumption that the expensive Two and a Half Men isn't worth keeping around at its current bubbly ratings. I could be wrong about that, but my guess is its only real path to renewal is for it to emerge as a well-above-bubble performer. But it's definitely not impossible that Men could end up looking significantly stronger than the new shows by the time May rolls around; last week it matched The Crazy Ones.
Still to come: "The New" Mike and Molly, which seems likely to post ratings that will put it in roughly this tier.
| CBS Comedies | True | A18-49 | Skew | y2y | Counted Eps | ||
| The Dunzo | |||||||
| 8 | We Are Men | 1.69 | 1.80 | 40% | 1 | ||
| CBS Dramas | True | A18-49 | Skew | y2y | Counted Eps | ||
| The Elite | |||||||
| 1 | NCIS | 2.84 | 3.05 | 21% | -10% | 2 | |
| 2 | Criminal Minds | 2.41 | 2.70 | 31% | -11% | 2 | |
The very rough idea of "compatibility" that I developed this summer, which compares a show's "Skew" with its lead-in's "Skew," seems to be helpful in some situations and neutral in almost all others. But I do have to wonder if Criminal Minds is the kind of situation where it actually hurts the show too much. Minds and Survivor have almost the same skew, but I'm not sure they're really all that compatible. Most of Minds' best True2 scores last year came when it aired after procedural repeats in January, and that gap may actually widen with the compatibility adjustment. Either way, Minds still looks fine.
| CBS Dramas | True | A18-49 | Skew | y2y | Counted Eps | ||
| The Second Tier | |||||||
| 3 | NCIS: Los Angeles | 2.08 | 2.55 | 22% | -11% | 2 | |
| 4 | Person of Interest | 1.82 | 2.20 | 22% | -26% | 2 | |
| 5 | CSI | 1.76 | 2.05 | 27% | -17% | 2 | |
| 6 | Elementary | 1.72 | 1.65 | 26% | -26% | 2 | |
Most of these shows are nicked significantly by True because they have good/compatible lead-ins, but the True number is a big buyer on Elementary, which has the lowest-rated and least compatible lead-in of these four. Combined with the relatively low Thursday viewing compared to the earlier weeknights, plus the Scandal competition, and that's enough to make up almost all of the ratings gap. It's done fairly respectably this season, with one exception: that 1.5 on October 17 (which is one of the two eps counted above). If it gets back to that level again, it can start getting worried. If not, I think it's very much a part of this pack.
| CBS Dramas | True | A18-49 | Skew | y2y | Counted Eps | ||
| The Weekend Dramas | |||||||
| 7 | Hawaii Five-0 | 1.57 | 1.40 | 20% | -24% | 2 | |
| 8 | Blue Bloods | 1.45 | 1.30 | 16% | +3% | 2 | |
| 9 | The Good Wife | 1.39 | 1.40 | 20% | -20% | 2 | |
| 10 | The Mentalist | 1.29 | 1.25 | 20% | -24% | 2 | |
If the season ended right now, I'm fairly sure CBS would bring back Friday completely intact. Hawaii Five-0 has done a bit better than I expected; and given the CBS disappointments elsewhere, that means it's much higher on the totem pole than I'd have anticipated. H5-0 and Blue Bloods are not that far away from becoming a bit questionable, but they look good to go thus far.
And I see no reason to change the pre-season belief that The Mentalist was CBS' Marked for Death veteran drama, as it has shown no real muscle this season. The real questions: 1) Will The Good Wife go with it, prompting CBS to make a major shake-up on Sunday? For the last few years I've assumed that The Good Wife's prospects are simply not quantifiable by ratings, and for now I'll just stick with that. Shrug. And 2) What replaces The Mentalist on Sunday? It's probably too early to be thinking about this, but only two returnees really stick out as having any chance to make that move: CSI and Elementary. TGW and Elementary might make for a nice critically-acclaimed pairing, but that doesn't seem like the right kind of theme to throw at the Sunday cable fray.
| CBS Dramas | True | A18-49 | Skew | y2y | Counted Eps | ||
| The Dunzo | |||||||
| 11 | Hostages | 1.22 | 1.20 | 30% | 2 | ||
| CBS Unscripted | True | A18-49 | Skew | y2y | Counted Eps | |
| 1 | Survivor | 2.44 | 2.50 | 33% | -14% | 2 |
| 2 | Undercover Boss | 1.92 | 1.70 | 24% | -10% | 2 |
| 3 | The Amazing Race | 1.76 | 1.85 | 29% | -22% | 2 |
| 4 | 60 Minutes | 1.25 | 2.05 | 21% | -14% | 2 |
| 5 | 48 Hours | 1.06 | 0.85 | 21% | -10% | 2 |
One of the great debates in TV ratings today is what the deal is with the broadcasters on Sunday. Is it the shows, or is Sunday cable simply creating an environment where the broadcasters inevitably can't hang normal weeknight numbers? I have always thought there's some of both, and one of the reasons was that many of the Sunday staples (namely the Fox cartoons and The Amazing Race) haven't really depreciated much over the period in question. But it is worth noting that may be changing; The Amazing Race is having a pretty stinky season this year.
