WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: Dancing with the Stars (3.0) gained a tenth, putting it up 25% year-to-year. NCIS (2.5) gained a tenth, putting it down just a tenth from last week.
- ABC took over Tuesday primetime with the two-hour season finale of Dancing with the Stars (2.9) leading out of a recap special at 8/7c (1.9). This finale was up a whooping 21% year-to-year. What had been a pretty quiet season of DWTS for the most part really took an amazing turn for the better in the last couple weeks.
- NBC, probably the lineup most vulnerable to ABC's strengthening, had another very soft night. The Voice (2.3) took another noticeable drop at 8/7c, tying a rating for a recap special just three weeks ago. Comedies Marry Me (1.1) and About a Boy (1.0) got particularly ugly, dropping 0.4 and 0.3 respectively, and Chicago Fire (1.6) gave back a half point after its big rating last week.
- The other three networks were very close to even with last week; only NCIS (2.4) changed by more than a tenth (it was down 0.2), and only Person of Interest (1.7) was up (by 0.1). The Flash hit its fourth straight 1.4, while Supernatural (0.9) and New Girl (1.3) each lost a tenth.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: CBS' 60 Minutes (3.2) and Madam Secretary (1.6) went down after the overrun was properly accounted for, leaving them at pretty unsurprising levels. The Simpsons (1.5) dropped another tenth, putting it down an even 50% week-to-week. And Sunday Night Football (8.1) was up a point vs. last week.
- ABC was well above average thanks to the three-hour American Music Awards (3.8), though the show was down 16% vs. last year's final.
- The NFL overrun shifted back over to CBS; we'll have to wait for finals
since the overrun ended in the middle of the 7:30 half-hour, but none of the dramas appear too out of the ordinary based on prelims. And NBC's Cowboys/Giants Sunday Night Football likely posted the biggest SNF rating in at least a month.
- Fox had a very bad night without the overrun and with the extra competition. Mulaney (0.7) had a quiet first episode at 7:30, helping to derail The Simpsons (1.6) and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (1.5) (though Brooklyn can at least point to its continued positive retention). And after yet another repeat of Family Guy (1.2), Bob's Burgers (0.9) crashed by nearly half week-to-week in an alarmingly Mulaney-esque performance.
WHAT MATTERS:
- CBS' 48 Hours (1.0) tied a season high opposite modest football games on ABC and Fox.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: Hawaii Five-0 (1.4) got another tenth in finals, putting it at an outright season high.
- After some strange things happened last week vs. the CBS awards show, most things got back to about two-weeks-ago levels this week. The closest thing to a surprise was on NBC, where Constantine (1.1) had a particularly big rebound to above all of its results from weeks two through four. Hard to know what to make of that for now, but the truth is probably somewhere between last week's 0.8 and this week's 1.1. Grimm (1.3) also had a minor rebound.
- On ABC, Last Man Standing (1.3) and Cristela (1.0) declined back to usual levels and Shark Tank (2.0) and 20/20 (1.6) bounced back significantly.
- And CBS was back in the entertainment series game after a week off, flat vs. two weeks ago except for a minor Hawaii Five-0 (1.3) uptick.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: After finals adjustments, State of Affairs ended up at a 1.5, down 32% from the premiere. This was a bad situation, but that's still a pretty poor showing. It needs to go up next week.
- Other particularly ugly points included The Voice (2.6) and 2 Broke Girls (1.6), each down a half point week-to-week, and a new low for Sleepy Hollow (1.4). But there was a significant winner in Dancing with the Stars (2.5), whose performance finale was up big year-to-year and almost tied The Voice! Worth reiterating: this was an extremely irregular night.
- With a double-dose of Monday Night Football (pre-emptions on both NBC and CBS) plus interruptions for Ferguson coverage in both the 9:00 and 10:00 hour, almost all of last night's ratings are subject to significant change, and there's arguably not a ton of value in them even after finals due to the disruptions. The only things that seem fairly certain/notable at the moment:
- NBC's State of Affairs (1.7) took at least a somewhat sizable week two drop, though getting a 15-minute interruption after seven minutes of your second episode is a pretty rough break.
- And ABC, which had (relatively) fewer disruptions, is currently up a bit more with the performance finale of Dancing with the Stars (2.4, even year-to-year) and Castle (2.0). Much more to come after finals!
These are the CW's Weekly True Power Rankings for 2014-15, lining up all
the network's shows based on their recent (last one-third of episodes
aired) averages in the timeslot-adjusted metric True. These will be
updated every week. Also included in this year's edition: how the
last-one-third average changed vs. the previous episode (
Last), the raw rating average over the comparable last-one-third period (
A18-49), the full season's year-to-year trend vs. the same number of episodes last year (
y2y), the percentage of the total viewership falling within the A18-49 demo (
Skew), and the percentage of the A18-49 audience that is male (
%Male).
These rankings cover numbers through Sunday, May 24.
These are Fox's Weekly True Power Rankings for 2014-15, lining up all
the network's shows based on their recent (last one-third of episodes
aired) averages in the timeslot-adjusted metric True. These will be
updated every week. Also included in this year's edition: how the
last-one-third average changed vs. the previous episode (
Last), the raw rating average over the comparable last-one-third period (
A18-49), the full season's year-to-year trend vs. the same number of episodes last year (
y2y), the percentage of the total viewership falling within the A18-49 demo (
Skew), and the percentage of the A18-49 audience that is male (
%Male).
These rankings cover numbers through Sunday, May 24.
These are NBC's Weekly True Power Rankings for 2014-15, lining up all
the network's shows based on their recent (last one-third of episodes
aired) averages in the timeslot-adjusted metric True. These will be
updated every week. Also included in this year's edition: how the
last-one-third average changed vs. the previous episode (
Last), the raw rating average over the comparable last-one-third period (
A18-49), the full season's year-to-year trend vs. the same number of episodes last year (
y2y), the percentage of the total viewership falling within the A18-49 demo (
Skew), and the percentage of the A18-49 audience that is male (
%Male).
These rankings cover numbers through Sunday, May 24.
These are CBS's Weekly True Power Rankings for 2014-15, lining up all
the network's shows based on their recent (last one-third of episodes
aired) averages in the timeslot-adjusted metric True. These will be
updated every week. Also included in this year's edition: how the
last-one-third average changed vs. the previous episode (
Last), the raw rating average over the comparable last-one-third period (
A18-49), the full season's year-to-year trend vs. the same number of episodes last year (
y2y), the percentage of the total viewership falling within the A18-49 demo (
Skew), and the percentage of the A18-49 audience that is male (
%Male).
These rankings cover numbers through Sunday, May 24.
These are ABC's Weekly True Power Rankings for 2014-15, lining up all
the network's shows based on their recent (last one-third of episodes
aired) averages in the timeslot-adjusted metric True. These will be updated every week. Also included in this year's edition: how the last-one-third average changed vs. the previous episode (
Last), the raw rating average over the comparable last-one-third period (
A18-49), the full season's year-to-year trend vs. the same number of episodes last year (
y2y), the percentage of the total viewership falling within the A18-49 demo (
Skew), and the percentage of the A18-49 audience that is male (
%Male).
These rankings cover numbers through Sunday, May 24.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: After finals adjustments, it was still a big week-to-week drop for The Big Bang Theory (4.1), while Mom (2.5) landed down a tenth and Two and a Half Men (2.2) up a tenth vs. last week. NBC's The Biggest Loser (1.1) ended up tying its season low, but the schizophrenic Parenthood (1.3) bounced all the way back from last week's huge drop. Reign hit a truly ugly 0.3.
- Fall finale week for TGIT produced a nice bit of growth for How to Get Away with Murder (3.1), up for the third straight week and hitting its biggest number since week three. But there were no real spikes for Grey's Anatomy (2.4) and Scandal (3.1).
- CBS should suffer less Thursday Night Football pre-emption damage than usual, as the only pre-emption was in the Pacific time zone, but some of the early programming was bumped. In preliminaries, The Big Bang Theory (4.0) took a noticeable hit, Mom (2.7) and Two and a Half Men (2.3) were slightly up, and The McCarthys (1.4) and Elementary (1.0) were flat.
- NBC may take more finals damage due to a Kansas City pre-emption; as of now, The Biggest Loser (1.3), Bad Judge (1.2), A to Z (0.9) and Parenthood (1.5) were all up.
- On the CW, The Vampire Diaries (0.8) recovered last week's one-tenth drop, while everything else there and on Fox was flat.
As of today, I'm adding a new table for each original entertainment show in the SpotVault, detailing how much each episode's True score is affected by the three (or four) major aspects of the formula. This is probably a dangerous way to go, as it may just serve to expose the problems with the formula, but hopefully that will only motivate further improvements going forward. I'm using this post not just as an explainer for what's in the table but also as a recap of how the formula works in general (and what's new this year).
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: The Stalker surge was tempered a bit after it lost a tick in finals (1.6). Nothing else adjusted, which meant the season's first final 0.6 for The 100.
- This was the first Wednesday in quite some time without some major event inflating one of the networks, plus the end of DST helping early-evening viewing. And it showed, as almost every network had something to crow about. We'll start with ABC, which had a great opening 90 minutes. A largely underwhelming season of The Middle (2.2) finally took a significant turn for the better, rising above all previous results this season. The Goldbergs (2.4) was up 0.3 to tie a season high, while Modern Family (3.7) came up just a tenth shy of its premiere's high point. Black-ish (2.6) and Nashville (1.5) were also up a tenth in prelims.
- On CBS, Survivor (2.4) had its best rating since early October, and Stalker (1.7) bounced all the way back to the level it had been maintaining before all these events.
- NBC continued to show nicely in the wake of its big crossover last week, with The Mysteries of Laura (1.4), Law and Order: SVU (1.8) and Chicago PD (1.6) all faring a bit better than their usual pre-event deliveries.
- Fox and the CW were steady across the board with last week's preliminaries, meaning yet another week of The 100 hoping to hold onto a preliminary 0.6 (a feat it has yet to pull off in three tries this season).
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: Chicago Fire (2.1) adjusted up in finals to finish down just a tenth week-to-week (and ahead of a year-ago episode that had a Voice lead-in). The Flash (1.4) ended up even for the second straight week, The Voice (2.7) got back a tenth as well, and Marry Me (1.5) lost one.
- After getting mowed down by NBC's event last week, CBS bounced all the way back with NCIS (2.6), NCIS: New Orleans (2.3) and Person of Interest (1.6) all growing by three tenths week-to-week. This put each show right back on par with its season average.
- Despite a low rating for The Voice (2.6) at 8/7c, NBC saw Marry Me (1.6) and About a Boy (1.3) bounce back to near the numbers when they last followed a fully original Voice three weeks ago. And Chicago Fire (2.0) had a particularly promising night at 10/9c; this was its highest result of the season leading out of About a Boy, and just two tenths behind the post-Voice ep last week.
- ABC shook it up at 8/7c again and improved on recent comedy hours with a Shark Tank repeat (1.1). This may have helped Agents of SHIELD (1.6) a little bit.
- MasterChef Junior (1.5) finally came back to earth somewhat on Fox; maybe some of its viewers flocked to the Shark Tank repeat? But New Girl (1.4) gained a tenth opposite less competition from NBC.
- And the CW's The Flash (1.3) was down a tenth and Supernatural (1.0) up a tenth.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: The Simpsons (3.0) rose to tie last week's rating.
- On a second straight Sunday with the NFL overrun, things went much better for Fox. Though The Simpsons (2.9) was only about even, Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2.2) and Family Guy (2.2) each took sizable upticks, and the installation of Bob's Burgers (1.7) at 9:30 nearly doubled last week's Mulaney rating.
- ABC pre-empted Resurrection to air a two-hour edition of Once Upon a Time (2.4/2.3). Though Once's ratings were on the low end for this season, the better lead-in really seemed to help Revenge (1.5), which easily hit a season high.
- On another without-overrun CBS night, Madam Secretary (1.5) pulled ahead of The Good Wife (1.3), while CSI (1.3) inched up from last week's low.
WHAT MATTERS:
- Another narrow escape for Florida State produced the second-biggest number of the season for Saturday Night Football (3.0), behind only the FSU game against Notre Dame from a month ago.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: Shark Tank (1.8) went up to avoid a new season low.
- CBS ill-advisedly went off the ratings map on Friday, pre-empting its regular lineup for the invisible Hollywood Film Awards (0.5 and 4.1 million viewers) and a post-show in the 10:00 hour (0.4). This was down by more than half from CBS' usual Friday average.
- Unfortunately, only a few scattered series took advantage, including Fox's repeat lineup of MasterChef Junior (0.7) and Gotham (0.6). Among originals, the most notable rise was ABC's 8/7c hour, where Last Man Standing (1.5) surged to a new season high and brought Cristela (1.1) up a notch as well. But ABC actually fared worse than usual in the later hours with Shark Tank (1.7) and 20/20 (1.2). NBC followed the same pattern: good at 8/7c with Dateline (1.5) but down later with Grimm (1.2) and what looks like a decisive death blow for Constantine (0.8).
State of Affairs
Mondays, 10/9c, NBC
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: ABC wasn't damaged too badly in finals and ended up with a pretty stellar night, especially for Dancing with the Stars (2.3), which shot to 0.3 above the level it's maintained pretty much since the start of the regular season. The Voice (3.1) and Sleepy Hollow (1.6) each went up a tenth.
- While not a disaster, it was not a great start for NBC's State of Affairs (2.2), which went a couple tenths below the lowest number NBC has ever seen from The Blacklist with a The Voice lead-in. The Blacklist comparisons aren't particularly apt in terms of gauging renewal prospects, since that show is well above the renewal line. But at this starting level, it would be fortunate to settle at what Chicago Fire gets leading out of the Tuesday comedy block, so there doesn't seem to be much potential for an upper-tier performer here. It is worth noting that the show didn't get a lot of help from The Voice (3.0), down again to tie its lowest performance show rating ever.
- The absence of The Blacklist seemed to help NCIS: Los Angeles (1.7) on CBS. It may have helped Castle too (2.0), though its current number is inflated by Monday Night Football pre-emptions. Most other shows were pretty steady week-to-week, with 2 Broke Girls (2.1) rebounding a bit and Jane the Virgin (0.4) giving back last week's uptick.
Approximately halfway between September premiere week and January premiere week, usually very light time of year for new series premieres, NBC is trotting out one of its biggest new drama hopes of the season.
State of Affairs is another drama in the political thriller space that has seen plenty of recent successes like
Scandal,
The Blacklist and
Homeland. This particular show is most notable as a vehicle for the highly polarizing Katherine Heigl, returning to TV after once finding fame on
Grey's Anatomy. What is the
State of Affairs in the post-
Voice timeslot? That's
The Question for Monday, November 17, 2014.
Benched
Tuesdays, 10:30/9:30c, USA
White Collar
Thursdays, 9/8c, USA
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: After finals, it was still a nice night for CBS' 8/7c hour, as The Big Bang Theory (4.5) was up two tenths for the second straight week, marking a solid recovery from its initial stumble after moving to Thursday. And Mom (2.6) finished up three tenths to a new series high. Two and a Half Men (2.1) was even week-to-week, The McCarthys (1.4) down a tenth, and Elementary down two more tenths to a simply ridiculous 1.0. I had always thought CBS would ride this one out on Thursday for the season, but... this is getting really bad.
- Bones (1.3) got a finals uptick to avoid a new season low, but The Vampire Diaries (0.7) did not this time.
- Week three of CBS' lineup will once again have to wait for finals due to pre-emptions in both of the Thursday Night Football markets. It's hard to imagine Mom (2.8) won't end up at least a bit above last week's 2.3, and The Big Bang Theory (4.5) may be up as well. But Two and a Half Men (2.2) and The McCarthys (1.6) each beat last week's finals by just a tenth and Elementary (1.2) was even.
- TGIT's domination intensified in its penultimate edition of 2014 as Scandal (3.2) shot up to its biggest rating since week two and How to Get Away with Murder (2.9) was also up a tenth.
- Elsewhere, even more ugliness than usual. Bones (1.2) shed another tenth on Fox, NBC saw Parenthood (1.0) hit a new low leading out of a particularly horrific A to Z (0.6), and The Vampire Diaries (0.7) will (as usual) hope for a finals boost to avoid its first 0.7 of the season.
After an unfortunate delay for some maintenance, the True Power
Rankings have finally returned! As always, these rankings dive into the
strength of series based on the last one-third of results this season,
rounded up (which helps weed out inflated early ratings), in the
timeslot-adjusted metric True and in A18-49 ratings. Also included: how
the show is trending vs. last season (y2y), how much of the show's total
viewership falls within the 18-49 demo (Skew), and, new this year, how
much of the 18-49 audience is male (%Male). These last three numbers
cover what is available for the full season rather than just the last
third of results, but generally the age/gender skews don't change a lot
from week to week.
WEEK ONE
Rating: 1.7
Lead-in: Two and a Half Men (2.4)
Competition: Scandal (3.1 overall, 3.0 at 9:30),
A to Z (0.7),
Gracepoint (0.8 overall, 0.8 at 9:30),
Reign (0.5 overall, 0.5 at 9:30).
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: Modern Family (3.2) went up a tenth in finals, though this was still a new season low by two tenths. For the third straight week, The 100 (0.5) failed to hang onto its preliminary.
- NBC took over the Wednesday primetime lead with a very strong finish to its Dick Wolf crossover. It started with a special hour of The Voice (2.5) matching the 2.5 for its special Thursday ep last year. That led into the two-hour drama event, which just about matched The Voice's delivery; there were massive spikes for Law and Order: SVU (2.4) and Chicago PD (2.2). Both shows went multiple tenths above their previous season highs this season, and PD tied its 2.2 series high from last season.
- Against a stronger NBC (but a weaker ABC with the CMA Awards gone), it was a weirdly mixed bag on pretty much every other network:
- ABC saw Modern Family (3.1) take a sizable hit, going well below any previous result this season, while The Goldbergs (2.1) also hit a season low, but the rest of the lineup was fairly normal;
- On CBS, Survivor (2.3) was even against The Voice and Criminal Minds (2.3) bounced back to about normal after last week's stinker against the CMAs, but Stalker (1.4) hit another new low;
- Fox's Hell's Kitchen (1.5) continued a very good week for Gordon Ramsay by rising to tie a season high, which is pretty strong given the added unscripted competition. But this was of no help to Red Band Society (0.9);
- And Arrow (0.9) fell back to earth, ending its run of three straight upticks, but The 100 posted a third straight preliminary 0.6 and will hope this one holds in finals.
After an unfortunate delay for some maintenance, the True Power
Rankings have finally returned! As always, these rankings dive into the
strength of series based on the last one-third of results this season,
rounded up (which helps weed out inflated early ratings), in the
timeslot-adjusted metric True and in A18-49 ratings. Also included: how
the show is trending vs. last season (y2y), how much of the show's total
viewership falls within the 18-49 demo (Skew), and, new this year, how
much of the 18-49 audience is male (%Male). These last three numbers
cover what is available for the full season rather than just the last
third of results, but generally the age/gender skews don't change a lot
from week to week.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: The Voice (3.0) and The Mindy Project (1.1) each upticked.
- NBC's big cross-over week began with a two-hour The Voice (2.9) leading into Chicago Fire (2.2), which did about what would be expected from that kind of lead-in injection and not much more. As usual with these multi-night cross-overs, the bigger bounce tends to come on the second night when the first show's audience follows along, so let's see what happens with Law and Order: SVU and Chicago PD tonight.
- On Fox, MasterChef Junior (1.8) actually held its entire premiere rating, a truly massive win for the network given the considerable influx of competition at 8/7c. But New Girl (1.3) and The Mindy Project (1.0) fell back to their normal post-Utopia levels, likely taking a hit from The Voice's presence at 9/8c.
- The Voice at 9/8c also didn't help CBS, where NCIS: New Orleans (2.0) and Person of Interest (1.3) took distressingly large steps down.
- ABC's Agents of SHIELD (1.5) will once again hope for a finals uptick to avoid a new low. Forever (1.0) also inched down again, while the installation of a repeat Modern Family (0.9) at 8:30 matched last week's Selfie result (but at least was better than Manhattan Love Story).
- A solid week for the CW continued as The Flash (1.4) had its first non-drop in week five, while the 200th Supernatural (0.9) was up a tenth.
After an unfortunate delay for some maintenance, the True Power
Rankings have finally returned! As always, these rankings dive into the
strength of series based on the last one-third of results this season,
rounded up (which helps weed out inflated early ratings), in the
timeslot-adjusted metric True and in A18-49 ratings. Also included: how
the show is trending vs. last season (y2y), how much of the show's total
viewership falls within the 18-49 demo (Skew), and, new this year, how
much of the 18-49 audience is male (%Male). These last three numbers
cover what is available for the full season rather than just the last
third of results, but generally the age/gender skews don't change a lot
from week to week.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: The Simpsons (3.0) and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (1.9) each picked up a tenth. Sunday Night Football (6.5) indeed hit a season low, but it was only a couple tenths behind last week.
- The NFL overrun swung back to Fox, but it ended relatively early. So The Simpsons (2.9), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (1.8) and Family Guy (1.8) benefited a good bit less than normal; Nine-Nine was only a tenth above last week's no-overrun result and Family Guy hit a new low. Since Fox insists on continuing to air Mulaney (0.9), it went back up with the return of an original lead-in.
- CBS dramas Madam Secretary (1.4) and The Good Wife (1.4) were back at normal non-overrun levels, while CSI (1.2) crashed to a new low.
- On ABC, it's been getting closer for awhile, and it finally happened: Revenge (1.3) beat its much-better supported lead-in Resurrection (1.2) (at least in prelims). Once Upon a Time (2.5) was down a tenth.
- NBC's huge blowout on Sunday Night Football could be headed for a season low. More after finals.
WHAT MATTERS:
- CBS dominated with its annual primetime LSU/Alabama matchup, but the 2.8 rating was actually far below the matchup's recent deliveries. (It had a 4.0 and 4.1 the last two years and a ridiculous 7.2 for the "Game of the Century" three years ago.) A big part of this softness can probably be attributed to competition from multiple other games with major playoff implications; for example, ABC's 2.0 for Ohio State/Michigan State was far more of a player than on this night last year (when ABC had just a 0.6).
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: Shark Tank (2.0) rose to even with last week's episode. Blue Bloods (1.3) lost its new season high (but still tied).
- It was the first time in three Fridays with no World Series and no Halloween, and the majority of shows were up vs. the results on those nights. NBC was up across the board, which was good news for Dateline (1.4) and a pretty much back-to-normal Grimm (1.3). However, one-tenth growth for Constantine (1.0) probably isn't enough to meaningfully make up for its severe week two drop.
- CBS also grew from start to finish as The Amazing Race (1.2), Hawaii Five-0 (1.2) and especially Blue Bloods (1.4) were all on the rebound. It was a new season high for Bloods, which may set it apart somewhat in an extremely crowded CBS drama race.
- ABC had an uptick for Last Man Standing (1.3) and a big night for 20/20 (1.7), though Cristela (1.0) was unable to bounce back from the 1.0 it saw the last two Fridays. Fox's MasterChef Junior repeat (0.6) roughly matched the average of pulled Utopia.
MasterChef Junior
Tuesdays, 8/7c, Fox
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: ABC's shows each shed a tenth due to the pre-emption, but that was it for adjustments. The CW's upticks held.
- It wasn't a pretty opening to week eight on the big four, with the majority of series either hitting or tying season lows. Most of the new lows came on CBS with disheartening declines for 2 Broke Girls (1.9), The Millers (1.5) and Scorpion (2.0), while Fox's dramas Gotham (2.2) and Sleepy Hollow (1.5) were among the series to tie their lows. NBC's The Voice (3.2) took a hit the week before State of Affairs' arrival.
- The only big four series to avoid season lows were ABC's Dancing with the Stars (2.1) and Castle (1.7), both of which may adjust down due to a Monday Night Football pre-emption, and the final Monday edition of The Blacklist (2.5), which still could adjust down to tie its low.
- The only network eying some legit good news was the CW, where The Originals (0.7) and Jane the Virgin (0.5) swung up. They didn't have a Monday Night Football pre-emption, but I never know if there was something NBA-related...
After an unfortunate delay for some maintenance, the True Power
Rankings have finally returned! As always, these rankings dive into the
strength of series based on the last one-third of results this season,
rounded up (which helps weed out inflated early ratings), in the
timeslot-adjusted metric True and in A18-49 ratings. Also included: how
the show is trending vs. last season (y2y), how much of the show's total
viewership falls within the 18-49 demo (Skew), and, new this year, how
much of the 18-49 audience is male (%Male). These last three numbers
cover what is available for the full season rather than just the last
third of results, but generally the age/gender skews don't change a lot
from week to week.
After an unfortunate delay for some maintenance, the True Power Rankings have finally returned! As always, these rankings dive into the strength of series based on the last one-third of results this season, rounded up (which helps weed out inflated early ratings), in the timeslot-adjusted metric True and in A18-49 ratings. Also included: how the show is trending vs. last season (y2y), how much of the show's total viewership falls within the 18-49 demo (Skew), and, new this year, how much of the 18-49 audience is male (%Male). These last three numbers cover what is available for the full season rather than just the last third of results, but generally the age/gender skews don't change a lot from week to week.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: CBS got brutalized again in the finals, putting Mom (2.3), Two and a Half Men (2.1) and The McCarthys (1.5) all down by multiple tenths from last week's premieres. NBC also took hits in the finals but was still slightly up week-to-week for the most part. And The Vampire Diaries (0.8) again got an uptick to avoid its first 0.7 of the season.
- Week two of CBS' return to Thursday entertainment programming with The Big Bang Theory (4.2), Mom (2.6), Two and a Half Men (2.3), The McCarthys (1.7) and Elementary (1.4) saw most shows even to slightly up from last week's finals. These results are once again pending an NFL pre-emption, though it may not be as brutal this week with only one pre-emption in a modest market.
- ABC put Grey's Anatomy (2.4) back in the 8/7c hour and it saw no real effect in its first episode against The Big Bang Theory. After rising with no Grey's last week, Scandal (2.9) fell with its lead-in restored, while How to Get Away with Murder (2.8) inched back up.
- NBC preliminarily had growth across the board with The Biggest Loser (1.3), Bad Judge (1.1), A to Z (1.0) and Parenthood (1.4)... but it also had a pre-emption.
- Fox's Bones (1.3) didn't rally from its big drop last week, while the CW's Reign (0.4) dropped and The Vampire Diaries (0.7) will need another finals uptick to avoid a new season low.
WEEK ONE
Rating: 1.4
Lead-in: Grimm (1.4 overall, 1.4 at 9:30)
Competition: 20/20 (1.5),
Blue Bloods (1.3), World Series Game 3 (3.1 overall, 3.5/3.6 in 10:00 hour).
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: While The 100 couldn't hold its 0.6, there was some very good news for the CDub: Arrow upticked to a new season high 1.1, putting it ahead of the year-ago episode. The blow to Chicago PD (1.4) was also softened somewhat, though it still marked a new season low.
- ABC took its lineup off for the always potent CMA Awards (4.5). It was pretty close to last year's 4.7 final.
- Despite the added ABC competition, most shows were close to even, including the return of Hell's Kitchen (1.3) and Red Band Society (0.9) after a World Series hiatus. The notable exceptions: CBS' crime dramas Criminal Minds (2.1) and Stalker (1.5) each dipped to new lows, and NBC's Chicago PD (1.3) had a real stinker of an outing on an otherwise steady NBC. The 100 posted a second straight preliminary uptick to 0.6 and will hope to hold onto this one in finals.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: Fox's good night (and CBS' strong repeats) went unchanged in finals, but it got even worse for the comedies elsewhere. Selfie is now at twin 0.9's, while About a Boy (0.9) adjusted down by a truly brutal two tenths.
- On a night with a lot of repeats, clip shows and pre-emptions due to election coverage, Fox had the entertainment world almost completely to itself, and it appears they took major advantage. MasterChef Junior (1.8) returned two tenths above last year's Friday premiere and well above what the network has been getting lately from Hell's Kitchen. It'll probably drop once NCIS and The Voice are back; but if it holds close to this in finals (not sure about local pre-emptions), it seems likely to remain a stronger option than Hell's. This lead-in support also vaulted New Girl (1.6) and The Mindy Project (1.3), which had best-since-premiere numbers and beat the competing NBC comedies in the 9/8c hour.
- The comedies on other networks didn't benefit against reduced competition; Marry Me (1.3) and About a Boy (1.1) each dropped again following a The Voice clip show (2.3), while a double-dose of Selfie was down for ABC (1.0 at 8:00, 0.9 at 8:30). ABC then sat out Agents of SHIELD for a weaker Marvel special (1.2). CBS and the CW were in full repeat/election coverage mode.
WHAT MATTERS:
- It was a bounce-back Sunday for ABC's drama trio of Once Upon a Time (2.5), Resurrection (1.4) and Revenge (1.2). That may in part be thanks to the 7:00 hour, which surged with the re-installation of America's Funniest Home Videos (1.2) after last week's much weaker special.
- CBS had what looks like one of its bigger NFL overruns from a Tom Brady/Peyton Manning showdown. The lineup started very close to 8:00 Eastern and appears to have significantly boosted 60 Minutes (3.3) even over recent overrun results. And Madam Secretary (1.8) likely posted its biggest number since the premiere.
- For the first time in a month, Fox aired its regular lineup without the NFL overrun and saw Bob's Burgers (1.5), The Simpsons (2.0) and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (1.6) roughly match their deliveries from that night. Then came yet another Family Guy repeat (1.2) for some reason. And finally airing in a bad situation, Mulaney (0.7) plummeted well below its premiere rating from a month ago. Maybe this will be enough to get it pulled.
WHAT MATTERS:
- CBS began its two-week foray into primetime college football on top, with its Notre Dame/Navy game (1.1) making a surge late in primetime to beat out uncompetitive games on ABC and Fox. The broadcast games figure to fare a lot better next week with LSU/Alabama and Ohio State/Michigan State on tap, but everything this week finished way behind ESPN's competing Ole Miss/Auburn (1.80).
WHAT MATTERS:
- It was a pretty scary Halloween ratings-wise in general, but nowhere more than at NBC. Grimm (1.1) took a significant drop from last week's premiere and newbie Constantine (0.9) crashed by a half-point. Next Friday will be the first truly normal Friday situation for these shows, but Constantine has put itself in a deep hole.
- There were actually a few week-to-week risers on Halloween, but most were shows that severely underachieved vs. the World Series last week, like The Amazing Race (1.1) and Last Man Standing (1.2). The one true bright spot, even moreso than usual, was Shark Tank (2.0), tying its season high on the lowest-viewed Friday of the season to date.
- Meanwhile, Hawaii Five-0 (1.1) and Cristela (1.0) did not bounce back from drops last week, but we'll see if they can do so when viewing increases next week. Blue Bloods (1.1) hit a season low, and Utopia (0.5) fell in its return after a week off.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: With New York City taken out of the CW numbers, Jane the Virgin (0.4) was even week-to-week and The Originals (0.5) hit a new low. ABC's CMA Awards preview (1.2) did significantly worse than Castle, while The Voice (3.5) was the only series to get an upward adjustment in finals. ESPN's Monday Night Football (4.3) hit a season low.
- Week seven finally put an end to the long streak of declines for Gotham (2.4), as the series rebounded by two tenths. But that was of no help to Sleepy Hollow (1.5), down to a new low for the second straight week.
- CBS saw small declines across the board in its second week with no The Big Bang Theory. 2 Broke Girls (2.2) dropped two tenths to a level at which CBS will still probably be pretty content. The Millers (1.6), Scorpion (2.2) and NCIS: Los Angeles (1.5) each shed a tenth, marking new lows for all three.
- On NBC, The Voice (3.4) and The Blacklist (2.4) gave back last week's gains. ABC and the CW were pre-empted for Monday Night Football, so it's likely another deceptive rise for Jane the Virgin (0.6).
Mom
Thursdays, 8:30/7:30c, CBS
Two and a Half Men
Thursdays, 9/8c, CBS
The McCarthys
Thursdays, 9:30/8:30c, CBS
Elementary
Thursdays, 10/9c, CBS
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