Spotted Ratings, Olympics Roundup 2/21-2/23/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC's Winter Olympics declines had been fairly disappointing for most of the Games, but it really escalated on the last few nights. Friday (3.6), Saturday (2.8) and Sunday's Closing Ceremony (3.2) were all over 40% behind the 6.5, 4.8 and 5.5 that rounded out Vancouver in 2010, and still well behind the 4.4, 5.1 and 3.8 to round out the 2006 Games. This put the final 2014 average at 18% behind the 2010 average.

• Because of these struggles, the post-Olympics previews of upcoming comedies About a Boy (2.2) on Saturday and Growing Up Fisher (2.0) on Sunday did not get the kind of sampling platforms NBC might have hoped for. But as in 2012, when it was clear Go On had more initial interest than Animal Practice, we can probably also declare an early favorite this year. About a Boy had the edge despite airing 30 minutes later on a much lower-viewed night.

• Sunday was further complicated by a rain delay to NASCAR's Daytona 500 on Fox, pushing it into primetime. The coverage ended up averaging a 2.8 demo rating. That added yet another layer of difficulty for CBS' probably ill-advised premiere of The Amazing Race (1.5), buried to a whooping 40% behind last spring's opener. (It may also adjust noticeably, as CBS had a 13-minute sports overrun of its own.)

• Episode three of The Walking Dead (6.6) was down just two tenths week-to-week and remains ever-so-slightly behind the scorching fall pace (when ep. 3 had a 6.8). And it was a potentially breakout night for HBO's True Detective (1.15), surging by 26% to a series high. (Progamming note: I'm going to try adding cable ratings with most of the usual full table numbers. Please check back at night or the next morning on the daily posts for these.)

FINAL OLYMPICS CHART:

FRIDAY 2/21/14 FULL TABLE:

Info		Show						Timeslot		True
	A18-49	Skew	Last		LeLa	Rank	y2y	TLa	Ty2y
Last Man Standing (R)	0.8	25%						-20%	-38%	1.1
Last Man Standing (R)	0.8	26%						-20%	-27%	1.1
Shark Tank	1.7	35%	-19%	-0.4	-0.3	15/17	-11%	+42%	-8%	2.3
20/20	1.4	30%	+27%	+0.3	+0.5	10/23	+0%	+33%	+0%	1.9
							ABC:	+20%	-12%
Blue Bloods (R)	0.7	17%						-22%	-55%	0.9
Blue Bloods (R)	0.8	16%						-11%	-33%	1.2
Blue Bloods (R)	0.8	15%						+0%	-43%	1.2
							CBS:	-12%	-45%
Winter Olympics	3.6	31%	-28%	-1.4	n/a	15/15	n/a	-21%	+184%	4.8
							NBC:	-21%	+184%
Bones (R)	0.9	36%						+20%	-18%	1.2
Enlisted (R)	0.6	49%						+0%	-14%	1.0
Raising Hope (R)	0.4	42%						-20%	-43%	0.7
							Fox:	+8%	-22%
Whose Line Is It Anyway? (R)	0.4	37%						+33%	+0%	0.5
Whose Line Is It Anyway? (R)	0.5	44%						+67%	+67%	0.6
The Originals (R)	0.1	26%						+0%	-50%	0.2
							CW:	+38%	+0%
							Big5:	-10%	+25%
Friday Night Smackdown!	0.63	29%	-13%	-0.1		22/22	-20%
Helix	0.43	37%	+32%	+0.1		4/7	n/a

SATURDAY 2/22/14 FULL TABLE:

Info		Show						Timeslot		True
	A18-49	Skew	Last		LeLa	Rank	y2y	TLa	Ty2y
Movie: Shrek the Third	0.7	36%					n/a	+40%	-7%	0.9
20/20 (R)	0.5	29%						-17%	-44%	0.8
							ABC:	+19%	-21%
Mike and Molly (R)	0.5	25%						+0%	-17%	0.7
The Crazy Ones (R)	0.3	22%						-50%	-50%	0.6
CSI (R)	0.5	21%						+43%	-47%	0.9
48 Hours (R)	0.6	21%						+71%	+9%	1.0
							CBS:	+20%	-29%
Winter Olympics	2.8	27%	-22%	-0.8	n/a	16/16	n/a	-33%	+367%	3.8
							NBC:	-33%	+367%
Daytona 500 Bash at the Beach	0.4	34%					n/a	+60%	-60%	0.5
The Following (R)	0.2	32%						+0%	-50%	0.4
							Fox:	+33%	-57%
							Big4:	-22%	+50%

SUNDAY 2/23/14 FULL TABLE:

Info		Show						Timeslot		True
	A18-49	Skew	Last		LeLa	Rank	y2y	TLa	Ty2y
America's Funniest Home Videos (R)	1.4	29%						+22%	-61%	1.4
Movie: The Proposal	1.5	37%					n/a	+62%	-87%	1.5
Castle (R)	0.9	28%						+38%	-93%	1.0
							ABC:	+45%	-87%
60 Minutes (R)	1.3	18%						+37%	+0%	1.3
The Amazing Race	1.5	28%	n/a	n/a	n/a	1/1	-40%	+200%	-19%	1.6
The Mentalist (R)	0.5	21%						+25%	-33%	0.6
The Good Wife (R)	0.5	20%						+25%	+0%	0.7
							CBS:	+69%	-14%
Nancy & Tonya	2.6	26%					n/a	-38%	+225%	2.5
Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony	3.2	27%					n/a	-40%	+300%	2.7
Growing Up Fisher	2.0	29%	n/a	n/a	n/a	1/1	n/a	-58%	+150%	1.7
							NBC:	-42%	+209%
Bob's Burgers (R)	1.1	43%						+83%	+10%	1.1
American Dad! (R)	1.1	43%						+38%	-8%	1.1
Daytona 500	2.8	38%	n/a	n/a	n/a	1/1	n/a	+155%	+93%	2.9
							Fox:	+131%	+68%
							Big4:	-1%	-45%
The Walking Dead	6.64	64%	-3%	-0.2		3/3	+16%
Talking Dead	2.43	65%	-2%	-0.0		3/3	+29%
True Detective	1.15	55%	+26%	+0.2		1/6	n/a
Shameless	0.88	59%	-2%	-0.0		3/7	+3%
Girls	0.48	66%	+0%	+0.0		4/8	+14%
House of Lies	0.39	62%	+10%	+0.0		4/7	-9%

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.

More Spotted Ratings in the Index.