Here are the three previous years:
2010: 10 to 6 | 5 to 1
2011: 10 to 6 | 5 to 1
2012: 10 to 6 | 5 to 1
NBC had plenty of moments it'd like to forget during its brutal winter without The Voice, but none got nearly as much attention as the day one meltdown of NBC's musical drama Smash. This was a show NBC head Robert Greenblatt had been developing for years and infamously called an "unqualifed success" after season one. It averaged around a 2.0 in the second half of its first season post-The Voice, but it returned for season two with a miserable 4.48 million viewers and 1.2 demo. NBC put up with another couple months of mostly sub-1.0 ratings before finally admitting defeat and playing out the last eight hours in Saturday burn-off mode.
Long-time readers of these lists know I've been itching to get the Super Bowl off the list, since its huge ratings are never surprising or particularly game-changing. But it's back again, even without setting a new viewership record, because this one was unusually bizarre; there was a 34-minute delay early in the second half due to a power outage in the stadium. Though it didn't greatly damage the game ratings, it meant the biggest showcase timeslot of the year got pushed to its latest start time ever. Starting at 11:11, Elementary (7.8) had the worst-ever retention of the game rating, and there was absolutely no benefit for the drama's long-term ratings.
It was a very positive 2013 for the CW, which has used its growing library of genre dramas to shore up much of its crater-filled schedule. But the network's single splashiest moment this year came from a completely different realm. Their revival of improv comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? produced a breakthrough 1.2 demo in a CW summer wasteland where 0.2s and 0.3s have been the norm. While it was a somewhat isolated event within 2013, this moment may carry a larger significance in the coming years, as it could inspire the CW to rejoin the scripted comedy game it abandoned several years ago.
A couple cable results to come on the second half of this list were far more noteworthy for individual shows. But March 31 was noteworthy as a great example of cable's depth, featuring a smackdown between three huge cable drama properties (all of which beat all four broadcasters in the 9:00 hour). The results were quite strong given all these shows were going head-to-head; the finale of The Walking Dead (6.4) and the premiere of Game of Thrones (2.3) each eked out new series highs, while History's final hour of miniseries The Bible (3.0) was just shy.
Though the power of Marvel Comics has been well-established at the box office, its highest-profile foray into TV was still particularly impressive out of the gate. The 4.7 demo rating made it the top drama premiere in raw 18-49 numbers since 2009, and from a Plus standpoint it was the most impressive self-starting series premiere in recent memory. By the late fall, it was only pulling about half of this number, which keeps this moment from ranking higher. But whatever happens with this show, drawing that kind of crowd for a premiere was still a rather remarkable achievement.
11 comments:
Hope to see Scandal somewhere on the list tomorrow!
Great list so far.I don't think super bowl/ elementary was all that relevant.But I need to see the entire list to see what's missing ;)
Hmm, none of these was that exciting.
Predictions for Top 5
-The Big Bang Theory over 20 million viewers
-The Sound of Music
-The Walking Dead Season 4 Premiere
-NBC Thursday collapse
-Scandal
I think he should mention that Two and a Half Men's first episode of 2013 got a 4.5 and the very last got a 1.9. That is a HUGE drop
That's what I'd say, except I'd replace the NBC Thursday collapse with Breaking Bad finale. NBC comedy flopping isn't really a surprise to anybody at this point.
I disagree with The Sound of Music being that high on the list, I don't find any relevance behind that night of the high number it pulled. Maybe it inspires more of that type of programming in the future, but other than that no impact.
Something that has to be in there: Under the Dome single handily reviving broadcast summer and being the highest rated new show of the year despite the low viewing summer levels and the absence of an original lead-in. I would also add in somewhere the collapse of broadcast Sundays particularly ABC's. Also, the smashing success of FOX's limited series The Following/Sleepy Hollow would be more 2013 for me than Scandal or NBC's Thursday as both of those come from fall 2012 IMO.
In my opinion a 4.7 was low for Agents of SHIELD. It would have been high for any other show, but this was supposed to be connected with the Avengers, one of the highest grossing films of all time.
I didn't place them in particular order. They're random.
Yes, I realize that. What I means was that I disagree with it being a top5 moment.
And yes, I completely forgot about Under the Dome. It can actually easily appear in the Top 5.
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