Schedules Plus, Fox Wednesday

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.

Fox Wednesday in the winter is the strongest average night in all of Schedules Plus, narrowly edging Fox Tuesday because Idol has been on Wednesday for the whole era. But the fall was much more problematic for the network, as no House-like anchor ever really developed. The network finally made a major splash on Wednesday when they picked up Simon Cowell's The X Factor, effectively giving them a "mini-Idol" in the fall months. But now, that show has been so beaten down now that it's far closer to the weak Wednesday lineups of years past than to its own former ratings.

Fox Wednesday Fall

	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
2001-02	(various originals)	Grounded for Life	The Bernie Mac Show	Titus	90
	87	83	106	86
	85		96
2002-03	The Bernie Mac Show	Cedric the Entertainer	Fastlane		79
	82	81	77
	81
2003-04	That '70s Show	Stan Hooper	The OC		96
	123	70	96
	97
2004-05	That '70s Show	Quintuplets	Nanny 911		82
	85	65	89
	75
2005-06	That '70s Show	Stacked	Trading Spouses		75
	83	51	84
	67
2006-07	Bones		(repeats)		74
	85		62
2007-08	Back to You	Til Death	Kitchen Nightmares		81
	76	71	88
	74
2008-09	Bones		Til Death	Do Not Disturb	81
	107		58	52
			55
2009-10	So You Think You Can Dance Wed Fall		Glee		102
	86		117
2010-11	Human Target		Hell's Kitchen Regular		89
	70		109
2011-12	The X Factor Wed				163
	163		163
2012-13	The X Factor Wed				140
	140		140
2013-14	The X Factor Wed				95
	95		95
2014-15	Hell's Kitchen Regular		Red Band Society		69
	80		58
Avg	93		95		94

Fox Wednesday Winter

	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
2001-02	That '80s Show	Grounded for Life	The Bernie Mac Show	Titus	88
	79	83	106	86
	81		96
2002-03	That '70s Show	American Idol Thu	The Bernie Mac Show	Wanda at Large	157
	132	234	134	130
	183		132
2003-04	That '70s Show	American Idol Thu	The OC		155
	123	259	120
	191
2004-05	That '70s Show	The Simple Life	American Idol Thu		185
	85	105	275
	95
2005-06	Bones		American Idol Thu		199
	102		295
2006-07	Bones		American Idol Thu		202
	85		319
2007-08	American Idol Thu		Moment of Truth		243
	306		180
2008-09	American Idol Thu		Lie to Me		209
	308		111
2009-10	Human Target		American Idol Thu		176
	83		268
2010-11	American Idol Wed				310
	310		310
2011-12	American Idol Wed				226
	226		226
2012-13	American Idol Wed				186
	186		186
2013-14	American Idol Wed				143
	143		143
2014-15	American Idol Wed		Empire		213
	124		303
Avg	173		212		192

2014-15 Update: Fox's first attempt to replace The X Factor in the fall didn't go so well, with both Hell's Kitchen and especially the drama Red Band Society going significantly behind the average that got X cancelled after three seasons. But at midseason, Fox really turned it around with the biggest broadcast drama of the A18-49+ era in Empire (303), and it's the understatement of the week to say that should set them up for improvement this fall. It stayed at 9/8c, leaving the new Morris Chestnut procedural Rosewood to lead off.

Notable midseason replacements: 

Several of the Wednesday occupants first aired at 9:00 after Idol, then swapped to the 8:00 hour later in the winter. I included the full season averages for these shows so as not to overcomplicate things, but for "retention" purposes keep in mind that much of these ratings came at 8/7c. 2005-06 Bones, Moment of Truth and Lie to Me fall under this category.

See here for more explanations/disclaimers about Schedules Plus.