Schedules Plus, NBC Tuesday

Schedules Plus is another innovative application of the historical ratings statistic A18-49+. I hope this will be the ultimate resource for comparing the evolution of shows, networks and timeslots over time, complete with ratings numbers that make a fair adjustment for the collective decline. Right now this only includes programs aired in the fall. Much more about the process that went into this at the bottom.

Tuesday was the one NBC night that remained consistently solid even through NBC's very darkest days as a network. While most NBC nights were characterized by crumbling veterans, NBC's relatively young procedural Law and Order: SVU and upstart reality series The Biggest Loser were able to hold up amid the turmoil. And the arrival of The Voice on Tuesday has singlehandedly made the night even stronger than it was at its Biggest Loser/SVU heights.

NBC Tuesday

	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2001-02	Emeril	Three Sisters	Frasier	Scrubs	Dateline Tue		104
	63	75	157	127	100
	69		142
2002-03	Just Shoot Me	In-Laws	Frasier	Hidden Hills	Dateline Tue		88
	62	73	116	104	86
	68		110
2003-04	Whoopi	Happy Family	Frasier	Good Morning, Miami	Law and Order: SVU		100
	69	71	104	92	131
	70		98
2004-05	The Biggest Loser Fall			Scrubs	Law and Order: SVU		113
	108		108	81	136
			94
2005-06	The Biggest Loser Fall		My Name is Earl	The Office	Law and Order: SVU		117
	100		137	97	135
			117
2006-07	Friday Night Lights		Law and Order: CI		Law and Order: SVU		89
	65		80		123
2007-08	The Biggest Loser Fall				Law and Order: SVU		110
	99		99		133
2008-09	The Biggest Loser Fall				Law and Order: SVU		112
	109		109		118
2009-10	The Biggest Loser Fall				The Jay Leno Show		113
	133		133		73
2010-11	The Biggest Loser Fall				Parenthood		99
	107		107		82
2011-12	The Biggest Loser Fall				Parenthood		90
	93		93		82
2012-13	The Voice Tue Fall		Go On	The New Normal	Parenthood		124
	201		94	72	87
			83
2013-14	The Biggest Loser		The Voice Tue Fall		Chicago Fire		136
	102		197		108
2014-15	The Voice Tue Fall		Marry Me	About a Boy	Chicago Fire		120
	184		71	62	108
			66
Avg	108		109		107		108

2014-15 Update: NBC tried again in fall and spring to launch comedies after The Voice, but got very little to show for it. Marry Me and About a Boy got the axe (their averages using just post-Voice episodes were 89/71), while only the summer import Undateable (84) survived to another season. But Chicago Fire remained resilient with mostly bad lead-ins at 10/9c.

Notable midseason replacements:

• The Office began its long run as a low-rated spring replacement in 2004-05. The season averaged a 72, but if we throw out the post-Apprentice premiere on Thursday, the Tuesday eps averaged a mere 62.
• Season one of Parenthood (94) aired at 10/9c after The Jay Leno Show finished in 2009-10.
• The first season of The Voice showed up right at the end of the 2010-11 regular season and aired almost entirely on Tuesday (plus a couple results shows on Wednesday). It averaged a 182. The show's first all-regular season edition aired its results shows on Tuesday in 2011-12, averaging a 153. (That season didn't start airing on Tuesday till late in the season, hence the lower average compared to other seasons which were on Tuesday from the jump.)

See here for more explanations/disclaimers about Schedules Plus.