Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 10/8/14

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Arrow (1.0) didn't get any help, but ABC had another big night in finals. Modern Family (3.6) was up 0.2 and the other three comedies all gained 0.1, putting Black-ish (2.9) at a stout three tenths above last week. This put the three-hour ABC lineup ever-so-slightly ahead of the same night last year. FX's American Horror Story premiered at a new series high 3.11, six hundredths above last year's 3.05 premiere.

• If week three was the night that doomed Super Fun Night last year, it may go down as the night that validated Black-ish (2.8) this year. The series was up two tenths (maybe more after finals) even as its Modern Family lead-in (3.4) declined slightly. It now seems like a pretty solid bet to be ABC's strongest ModFam lead-out yet. ABC was steady in the 8/7c hour with The Middle (2.0) and The Goldbergs (2.2) and at 10/9c with Nashville (1.5) (which is actually now running close to even year-to-year).

• Elsewhere in newbie land, Stalker (1.7) was down a typical 15%, putting it in the same area as CBS' Monday and Tuesday 10:00 options. Considering its Criminal Minds lead-in (2.3) was also down the same amount, it's not really that terrible, though not particularly promising either. And The Mysteries of Laura (1.3) and Red Band Society (0.9) each slipped noticeably in their fourth episodes after being steady in their third.

• And the CW welcomed back Arrow (1.0) at a tenth above last season's premiere/finale, but a couple tenths behind last season's high point. There doesn't seem to have been a ton of heat here from the CW's enormous The Flash premiere a night earlier, but it may have been worth a tenth or so. Considering how the majority has fared at The Question this year, expect upward adjustments! Speaking of The Flash, it had a decent premiere encore rating at 9/8c (0.6).

FULL TABLE:

Info		Show						Timeslot		True
	A18-49	Skew	Last		LeLa	Rank	y2y	TLa	Ty2y
The Middle	2.1	35%	+5%	+0.1	n/a	2/3	-5%	+5%	-5%	2.1
The Goldbergs	2.3	40%	+0%	+0.0	+0.1	2/3	+21%	+0%	+28%	2.2
Modern Family	3.6	43%	-3%	-0.1	+0.0	3/3	-8%	-5%	-8%	3.2
Black-ish	2.9	44%	+12%	+0.3	-0.1	2/3	n/a	+12%	+16%	2.4
Nashville	1.5	34%	-6%	-0.1	+0.3	2/3	-6%	-3%	-9%	1.6
							ABC:	+1%	+1%
Survivor	2.5	33%	+4%	+0.1	n/a	2/3	+0%	+2%	+2%	2.5
Criminal Minds	2.3	28%	-15%	-0.4	+0.1	2/2	-12%	-15%	-12%	2.2
Stalker	1.7	26%	-15%	-0.3	-0.4	2/2	n/a	-13%	-8%	1.7
							CBS:	-8%	-6%
The Mysteries of Laura	1.3	19%	-13%	-0.2	n/a	4/4	n/a	-13%	-13%	1.4
Law and Order: SVU	1.7	28%	-6%	-0.1	-0.2	3/3	+6%	-6%	+6%	1.9
Chicago PD	1.5	29%	+0%	+0.0	-0.1	2/3	n/a	-3%	+36%	1.7
							NBC:	-7%	+7%
Hell's Kitchen	1.4	47%	+0%	+0.0	n/a	3/6	n/a	+0%	-33%	1.5
Red Band Society	0.9	39%	-18%	-0.2	+0.0	4/4	n/a	-18%	-63%	1.1
							Fox:	-8%	-49%
Arrow	1.0	45%	n/a	n/a	n/a	1/1	+11%	+400%	+5%	1.0
The Flash (R)	0.6	36%						+200%	-29%	0.6
							CW:	+300%	-11%
							Big5:	+3%	-13%

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.