| Timeslot | Lo | Avg | Hi | y2y | A18-49+ | Label | y2y | Results |
| Sunday 9:00 | 1.1 | 1.42 | 1.8 | -14% | 76 | marginal | -4% | detail |
Rating the Ratings: In season five, The Good Wife remained one of the weakest links on the CBS schedule, continued its slow depreciation relative to league average, and... was again an easy early renewal for CBS. Like Whose Line Is It Anyway?, this is a show where the points don't matter; CBS clearly has their reasons for keeping it, and they continued to apply this time around. That's all there really is to say. Usually I give a C+ to a slightly-above-average drop, but I give TGW a slight upgrade because its The Amazing Race lead-in had such a bad season (though I'm not sure how much that matters in this pairing). Grade: B-.
Here's the now updated War of 18-49 post for The Good Wife.
8 comments:
New/additional theory for The Good Wife continued survival: CBS can point to it as an example to talent and say, "Hey, we aren't just a procedural drama channel." In a sea of CSI's and NCIS's, The Good Wife says CBS is willing to stick by something that's high-class even if it's not a demo winner.
I do think it's funny that CBS' reality shows really seem to be of little help to its drama lead-outs. Big Brother is the most obvious example, but The Amazing Race couldn't help The Good Wife pull its skew into the 20s. And I think that Survivor and Criminal Minds operate in such different realms that they are near independent entities. Contrast that with ABC with Dancing with the Stars/Castle, NBC with The Voice/Blacklist, and Fox historically with American Idol/House.
The show was down to a mere 1.1 hanging out in TV's most viewed slot. If the show were in a less profile slot (Sundays at 10, Fridays at 8) it wouldn't get as much crap. Maybe I'm biased (I am), because I want what I hope is CSI's final season to not be filled with overrun and and low lead ins. At least CBS is being upfront about ending CSI's season early, unlike Miami, but I'm thinking with a Good Wife lead in in spring of 2015, CSI: Cyber has as much of a chance as NYC 22
In my opinion, TV's most viewed slot is also one of TV's hardest slot, so it's a "be careful what you wish for" situation. The competition in that hour is crazy with all the cable heavy lifters so I am not really sure what is the chicken and what is the egg in that situation. If people tune in because there are specific programs they want to watch at that time (not inconceivable considering the amount of different programs that can warrant that at the time), then I am not really sure what sort of help that sort of viewership level would do to help the other shows. If anything, it would take away casual viewers. In other words: it's unclear to me which effect is bigger, the competition one or the viewership one.
As for Cyber, I am still not sure that CBS will follow that crazy plan and premiere it there. It would result in CSI airing after repeats of the good wife at Sundays at 10 (I cannot imagine...) and Cyber premiering out of a very low 1s lead-in. If Madam Secreaty flops, I think they just put Cyber at 8. CBS has so much backup this year though that it's hard (The Mentalist, Undercover Boss, Battle Creek, Cyber). Do we know if they are airing two cycles of TAR this year?
B- is alright.
Considering the 7-season plan and the fact that CBS hasn't canceled it yet, I would give it 13 episodes and push it to summer after season 6.
I can't find confirmation about a one or two cycle pick-up out there. But if there's only one cycle of The Amazing Race, then it most likely means that Undercover Boss has to have a near full season's worth of shows to run January to May. I'd rather CBS put the procedural rerun Fridays at 8 and let Undercover Boss have a shorter season that keeps the slot warm between Survivor editions, but that's me.
The upside is that CBS has a lot of back-up so it doesn't have to let a Hostages or Intelligence play out the string (though considering Reckless' run so far, maybe it was smarter to let those shows run). And you could conceivably see what would replace a flop. For example...
Scorpion --> Mike & Molly & The McCarthys or The Odd Couple
Stalker --> Battle Creek
Madam Secretary --> shift The Good Wife and CSI/CSI:Cyber down an hour, put The Mentalist at 10:00
I think the Survivor hiatus is way too short for a proper run of anything. Maybe they can just let Boss come to summer if TAR does well on Fridays to have two seasons? Even if TAR does similar numbers to Boss, the different skews might result in a positive effect on H50, a show in which CBS is clearly invested, so that could come in play too
As for the backups, I do agree in theory but you have to admit that it would have to go extremely badly for CBS to need to replace all that! Also, I am not entirely sure if they would really go back to that 4th comedy hour on Mondays if Scorpion falls. I could see them putting LA at 9 and putting some low priority stuff at 10. I expect Men to have a shorter season than usual or at least to end early like Mother did, which would mean that we could see a Thursday like this come spring: TBBT/The Odd Couple/Mike and Molly/ The Millers if The McHarthys flop.
I don't think all of CBS' new shows will flop. But if one of those situations happen, that's my best guess at what replaces it. Though if 2.5 Men does have a straight-through or abbreviated run, it does feel more likely that CBS will hold to three comedy hours.
CBS has shown that it's not above making an in-season move if there's a bomb, but if Scorpion doesn't work I'm not a fan of moving NCIS: LA down an hour and putting a newbie at 10:00 until there's a sense of how State of Affairs on NBC is going to do. If it falls, then sure, let a new show only have to worry about Castle. But I prefer hammocking a new show between two known quantities even if they are mediocre at best.
As for Undercover Boss, it could have a split season filling in for Survivor in January-February, then air its remaining episodes in Summer 2015 leading into something like Under the Dome on Mondays. My main point is that CBS should not waste the higher viewing levels in January & February with a regularly scheduled rerun.
Since ever episode for Undercover Boss is completely self contained, it can be started whenever without problem. You could replace Scorpion or Madam Secretary super easily at anytime. I could see if Scorpion just Hostages level bombs outright them going 2 Broke Girls/Mom/NCIS: LA/Undercover Boss starting in late October
Post a Comment