The War of 18-49, Shameless

SHAMELESS (SHOWTIME)

Scheduling history: All seasons of Shameless have aired on Sunday at 9:00.

See (who saw) how it all began: Showtime's dramedy Shameless was based on a British series of the same name, but that series clearly didn't bring a mass American following to the table out of the gate. Shameless premiered at a modest 982,000 viewers and 0.4 demo rating on 1/9/11. It dropped to 810,000 viewers (and held the 0.4) in week two, but it was pretty much all uphill from there. It grew to 903,000 viewers in week three, then over a million (and spiked to a 0.6 demo) in week four. Most of the second half of its season saw 0.5 ratings.

The best of times: Shameless, like many cable dramas before and since, took a massive leap between seasons one and two. After a season one full of 0.4's and 0.5's, Shameless generally hit 0.7's and 0.8's in season two (only dipping to 0.5 against the Super Bowl). Season three began with another huge spike to 1.1 on the 1/13/13 premiere night (0.3 above any previous result), and that remains the series high. The spike for the full season didn't end up quite living up to that 1.1 promise (it settled around 0.8), but it was still another significant leap.

The worst of times: Shameless has never returned to the depths from early season one. Until the sixth season, its last 0.4 rating came in episode eight. After double-digit growth in seasons two and three, though, the show did have its first ever decline in season four (albeit by a miniscule amount), and it dropped more significantly in season five.

Then vs. now: Though Homeland looked like the new Showtime darling after its season one Emmy win, Shameless may have quietly become Showtime's biggest ratings success in a post-Dexter world. Though Homeland had that Emmy and two years with the Dexter lead-in, Shameless season four narrowly outrated Homeland's first season without Dexter. And it pulled this off in what many would argue is a more difficult time of year: Sunday event season. Though Showtime has sat out Shameless against the Oscars the last few years, it's still faced the Super Bowl in each of its first five seasons.

Adults 18-49 info by season:

Seas	Year	Slot	Avg	y2y	Lo	Hi	Results	Grade
1	Winter 2011	Sunday 9:00	0.47		0.4	0.6	detail
	1		Winter 2012	Sunday 9:00	0.71	+52%			0.5	0.8	detail
2	Winter 2013		Sunday 9:00	0.82	+16%	0.6	1.1		detail
3	Winter 2014		Sunday 9:00	0.81	-1%	0.6	0.9		detail
4	Winter 2015		Sunday 9:00	0.71	-13%	0.5	0.9	detail	B+
5	Winter 2016		Sunday 9:00	0.64	-9%	0.5	0.8	detail	B+
6	Fall 2016		Sunday 9:00	0.54	-16%	0.4	0.6	detail	B
7	2017-18		Sunday 9:00	0.54	+1%	0.2	0.7	detail
8	2018-19		Sunday 9:00	0.35	-34%	0.2	0.5	detail

Historical-adjusted ratings by season:

Seas	Year	A18-49+	Label	Now19	y2y	Lo	Hi	Premiere	Finale
1	Winter 2011	18				16	24	16	20
	1	Winter 2012	30				23	35	34	31
2	Winter 2013	39				28	51	51	43
3	Winter 2014	43				31	47	46	45
4	Winter 2015	42				32	52	48	42
5	Winter 2016	44				32	52	43	45
6	Fall 2016	44				34	51	40	51
7	2017-18	49				21	67	67	55
8	2018-19	37				25	49	49	47
AVERAGE:		AVERAGE:	39

The War of 18-49 chronicles the ratings history of veteran primetime series. For more, see the Index.