Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 4/29/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Criminal Minds (1.8) got a back a tenth, but it was still a new low. Survivor (2.2) and Arrow (0.9) were also saw the week-to-week blows soften with upticks, and SVU (2.1) gained 0.1.

• The last two pieces of NBC's latest Dick Wolf crossover produced big numbers, with a special 9/8c Chicago PD (1.8) and especially the 10/9c conclusion with Law and Order: SVU (2.0) going well above the series' regular numbers.

• In the crime drama battle, NBC's strength was CBS' weakness. Survivor (2.1) continued a roller-coaster ride this season by dropping multiple tenths again, Criminal Minds (1.7) dive-bombed to a new low, and CSI: Cyber (1.2) joined Tuesday's One Big Happy in taking a brutal week-to-week drop at a crucial time (even if this one is a bit more understandable).

• ABC was up in the 8/7c hour with The Middle (2.0), flat with The Goldbergs (2.1), inched down in the 9/8c hour with Modern Family (2.9) and Black-ish (2.0) and was even with Nashville (1.3). All three of the top-of-hour shows were up vs. the year-ago evening (and, of course, the bottom-of-hour shows up even more sharply vs. previous occupants).

• Fox's American Idol (1.6) ticked up for a second straight week, while the CW's Arrow (0.8) gave back its recent increases.

Fox True Power Rankings, May 2015

Every weekday for the next three weeks, this blog will have a meaty piece of coverage surrounding the annual schedule releases. It starts this week with the season's final edition of the True Power Rankings, the SHOW-centric half of the upfront preview, digging deep into the merits of individual shows by network. Next week come the Upfront Questions, the SCHEDULE-centric look ahead to upfront week. The following week, the schedules come out, and with them come the Upfront Answers.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 4/28/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Agents of SHIELD, NCIS, NCIS: New Orleans, The Voice and Chicago Fire all adjusted up. One Big Happy went down to 0.8, a new low by three tenths that feels like a true final nail in the coffin.

• ABC began a run of special Dancing with the Stars Tuesday telecasts with a special celebrating the show's 10th anniversary (1.7). Though it significantly improved on ABC's usual ratings in the hour, it was probably even less compatible than previous occupants with Agents of SHIELD (1.4), which could only produce a low-end result. An ABC News special (1.4) did well at 10/9c.

• Perhaps ABC's biggest benefit from DWTS was how badly it hurt the competitors. CBS' NCIS (1.9) will hit its third consecutive new low unless it adjusts up, while NCIS: New Orleans' (1.8) retention looked better by comparison in a considerably less competitive hour. It also took a major chunk out of NBC's The Voice (2.1), leading to more new lows for the lead-out comedies Undateable (1.2) and the likely series finale of One Big Happy (0.9). NBC jumped back up at 10/9c for Chicago Fire (1.5), which kicked off yet another Dick Wolf crossover event.

• On Fox, Hell's Kitchen (1.1) is eyeing another new low in the prelims, while New Girl (1.0) remained mired at the very low level it's been seeing since Weird Loners (0.6) showed up.

• Barring preemptions, the CW would be the night's winner with a very high-end rating from The Flash (1.5) and a slight rebound from iZombie (0.7).

NBC True Power Rankings, May 2015

Every weekday for the next three weeks, this blog will have a meaty piece of coverage surrounding the annual schedule releases. It starts this week with the season's final edition of the True Power Rankings, the SHOW-centric half of the upfront preview, digging deep into the merits of individual shows by network. Next week come the Upfront Questions, the SCHEDULE-centric look ahead to upfront week. The following week, the schedules come out, and with them come the Upfront Answers.

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 4/26/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Family Guy (1.6) adjusted up to top all the other Fox programs.

• ABC saw the prospects further brighten for new drama Secrets and Lies (1.7). After seven weeks at very close to its series premiere number, it finally shot above that premiere rating for the first time, and it's remained a significant promotional priority for the network. Surrounding dramas Once Upon a Time (1.7) and Revenge (1.0) were even.

• NBC didn't have such good news as week four of A.D. The Bible Continues (1.1) was unable to bounce back from last week's stinker, and neither did the somehow-still-airing American Odyssey (0.5). This is a disheartening point for NBC because 1) it had much less competition than last week with The Academy of Country Music Awards; and 2) it also had a much better lead-in as NBC moved its two-hour Dateline Mystery franchise to Sunday. It averaged a 1.4 in the 8:30 half-hour, up from last week's 0.6 A.D. repeat.

• Fox had all five of its Sunday comedies in originals for the first time in a whooping six weeks. The last two hours were extremely consistent, which meant a below-average Family Guy (1.5) but a solid number from the return of Brooklyn Nine-Nine (1.5). The Simpsons (1.5) and The Last Man On Earth (1.4) were closer to recent results.

• After some recent increases on sports overrun nights, CBS' Madam Secretary (1.0) got obliterated to a new low on this night, while The Good Wife (1.0) inched down as well.

Spotted Ratings, Saturday 4/25/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• Another edition of pre-Finals playoff hockey (0.8) was flat with last week for NBC. It tied 48 Hours (0.8) and a 10/9c repeat of Shark Tank (0.8) as the top broadcast program, but broadcast again lost to primetime NBA games on ESPN (1.27/1.17).

Spotted Ratings, Friday 4/24/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Shark Tank (1.8) adjusted up. I will understand if you disagree, but I'm counting the Bruce Jenner interview as a special and not under the 20/20 banner. It was never referred to as "20/20" in my TiVo listings, and I have used the special distinction on other one-off news telecasts in the past. Kinda got the sense the network was trying to lump it in with 20/20 after the fact. Shrug.

• Just over two months after NBC's breakthrough SNL40 special, ABC had its own stunningly enormous piece of event television. A two-hour interview in which Olympic legend Bruce Jenner came out as transgender (5.2) averaged 16.86 million viewers overall. It had a 5.0 demo rating in the 9:00 hour that grew to 5.3 at 10:00. On a Friday in late April, these numbers are practically unthinkable, roughly four times what a "normal" ABC News 20/20 outing tends to deliver.

• Pre-tune for the Jenner interview surely helped Shark Tank (1.7), which was up a couple ticks in its move to 8/7c for the last four weeks of the season.

• Though 8/7c shows like The Amazing Race (1.1) and Grimm (1.0) were flat, the interview clearly took a toll in the last two hours. Dateline (0.8/0.9) was below 1.0 for a Friday original for the first time this season, while Blue Bloods (1.0) on CBS also took a major hit. Hawaii Five-0 staying at its previous low 1.1 feels like a win by comparison.

• Week two of the CW's lineup of Cedric's Barber Battle (0.4), Whose Line Is It Anyway? (0.4) and The Messengers (0.4) was preempted in top market New York City, so downward adjustments are expected.

Spotted Ratings, Monday 4/27/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: 2 Broke Girls (1.6), Mike and Molly (1.7) and Stalker (1.3) all went down for CBS, suggesting some preemption oddity. For 2BG, it resembles the show's previous 1.6 stinker in late November (also a night with some preemptions due to riot coverage). The Night Shift (1.2) also lost a tenth.

• CBS traded out smashing new success Scorpion for the low-end drama Stalker (1.4) and dropped more than a third week-to-week in the 9/8c hour (as well as 25%+ from what Scorpion was getting on a normal basis). While not as bad as it could've been for Stalker given its over two months off the airwaves, it's still not making any kind of serious case for renewal. Its presence was also not good to the surrounding CBS hours; 2 Broke Girls (1.7) and Mike and Molly (1.8) were below average at 8/7c, and NCIS: Los Angeles (1.4) stayed at last week's weak number.

• A weaker CBS brought little added audience to the competition. Fox's lead-in Gotham (1.5) preliminarily gave back last week's rebound but may adjust up, while The Following (1.2) was even. NBC's lineup (The Voice (2.6) and The Night Shift (1.3)) was steady, while ABC was actually down another notch with Dancing with the Stars (2.0) and the increasingly shaky Castle (1.3). 

CBS True Power Rankings, May 2015

Every weekday for the next three weeks, this blog will have a meaty piece of coverage surrounding the annual schedule releases. It starts this week with the season's final edition of the True Power Rankings, the SHOW-centric half of the upfront preview, digging deep into the merits of individual shows by network. Next week come the Upfront Questions, the SCHEDULE-centric look ahead to upfront week. The following week, the schedules come out, and with them come the Upfront Answers.

ABC True Power Rankings, May 2015

Every weekday for the next three weeks, this blog will have a meaty piece of coverage surrounding the annual schedule releases. It starts this week with the season's final edition of the True Power Rankings, the SHOW-centric half of the upfront preview, digging deep into the merits of individual shows by network. Next week come the Upfront Questions, the SCHEDULE-centric look ahead to upfront week. The following week, the schedules come out, and with them come the Upfront Answers.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 4/23/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The Blacklist (1.5) got back a tenth, as did The Big Bang Theory (3.6).

• A particularly momentous episode of Grey's Anatomy (2.8) spiked by a massive 33% week-to-week. This was the show's biggest rating since the 2.8 spring premiere in January and may adjust up to the biggest rating since the season premiere's 3.1. While last night's development seems like a surprisingly big risk for a show that didn't need the ratings help, the short-term rewards are certainly being reaped.

• But the Grey's heat no real impact on lead-outs Scandal (2.3) and American Crime (0.9), both of which were actually down from last week.

• CBS' comedy night gave back some of its recent heat with The Big Bang Theory (3.5), The Odd Couple (2.0) and Mom (1.9) all down. It was an unwelcome development especially considering the always weirdly impactful NFL Draft will be in the mix next week.

• On NBC, The Blacklist (1.4) had a brutal return from a couple weeks off, dropping two tenths. It may adjust up with a 1.4 -> 1.5 breakdown, but that would still be a new low.

• Fox and the CDub were steady but low with Bones (1.0), Backstrom (0.8), The Vampire Diaries (0.6) and Reign (0.3).

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 4/22/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Modern Family (3.0), Survivor (2.4), Criminal Minds (2.0) and Arrow (1.0) got a one-tenth bump.

• The ABC comedy block was fully original for the first time in three weeks, but The Middle (1.8), Modern Family (2.9) and Black-ish (2.1) were all at the low end of recent originals. Only The Goldbergs (2.1) beat out some recent results in the same situation. Nashville (1.3) was back to its normal ratings, marking a second straight uptick.

• CBS had a bit of a bounce-back from Survivor (2.3), but the crime dramas didn't really benefit from another repeat week for the competing NBC procedurals. Criminal Minds (1.9) was notably below average and CSI: Cyber stayed at 1.5.

• Fox's American Idol (1.5), NBC's The Mysteries of Laura (1.0) and the CW's Supernatural (0.7) all inched up from lows in their last originals. Arrow had another 0.9.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 4/21/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The Voice, Agents of SHIELD, Undateable, Hell's Kitchen and The Flash gained a tenth. iZombie (0.6) lost a tenth to hit a new low.

• Fresh Off the Boat ended season one with its second straight 1.5, a promising finish after getting as low as 1.3 a few weeks ago. The Repeat After Me (1.1) finale and Forever (1.0) ticked up, while Agents of SHIELD (1.5) inched down in prelims (but with a 1.6 -> 1.5 breakdown, should be pretty close to adjusting up).

• Undateable (1.3) had its worst showing yet despite The Voice (2.5) staying at least even. One Big Happy (1.1) was even, while Chicago Fire (1.6) looked good at 10/9c, growing huge on its comedy lead-in for the first time since About a Boy was still around.

• CBS gave an original CSI: Cyber (1.2) a Tuesday whirl. With a repeat NCIS: New Orleans lead-in (1.1), it was two tenths below its post-Criminal Minds low on Wednesday, which is not really surprising. Though it may get some comparisons to a similar CSI tryout in January, the situation was not nearly as favorable; New Orleans was a half-point bigger then, and there were no original drama competitors.

• After big nights last week, a little air came out of CW's The Flash (1.2) and iZombie (0.7), but they still avoided new lows.

• And another post-New Girl repeat (0.6) episode of Weird Loners joined American Odyssey at 0.5, while Hell's Kitchen (1.1) also hit a season low.

Plus Power Rankings Tweaks

Thanks to omabin for the reminder about the "emergency fix" needed for some of the projected averages on the Plus Power Rankings. With only a few weeks left, most of these are not as impactful as they would've been a month ago, but they should still be an improvement on what was there before.

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 4/19/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The ACM Awards adjusted down to 3.6, still up 9% year-to-year. Once Upon a Time (1.7), Secrets and Lies (1.5) and A.D. The Bible Continues (1.2) got welcome upticks, while American Odyssey (0.5) dropped to what seems like a very clear pull-me-now level. On cable, Game of Thrones (3.6) took a larger than usual post-premiere drop, but it remained on the narrow year-to-year upside and tied the ACM Awards.

• After two weeks very much on the map, it only took three for A.D. The Bible Continues (1.1) to become yet another facepalm situation for NBC. It dropped a whooping six more tenths following the six-tenth week two drop, putting it already at less than half of the premiere rating. Last week, it was still Sunday's #1 broadcast series in 18-49. This week, it was a pretty distant fourth place just in its timeslot. The show's best hope now is that the similarly middle America-skewing Academy of Country Music Awards on CBS were very unfavorable competition for this show, but it would take a huge rebound to change the narrative here. And the surrounding 8/7c A.D. repeat (0.6) and American Odyssey (0.6) also took sizable week-to-week hits.

• ABC fared much better against the added CBS competition. Though Once Upon a Time (1.6) failed to rebound from last week's low, Secrets and Lies (1.4) and Revenge (1.0) both inched up, and America's Funniest Home Videos (1.4) may have benefited from the NBA playoffs airing late in the afternoon on ABC.

• Fox had animated anchors The Simpsons (1.4) and Family Guy (1.7) both in originals for once, with the former ticking down and the latter benefiting from a return to its usual 9/8c slot. The Last Man on Earth (1.4) was also up a bit.

• And CBS more than tripled its usual Sunday 8-11 delivery with an above-average The Academy of Country Music Awards (3.7), whose three-hour prelim was up from last year's 3.3.

Spotted Ratings, Saturday 4/18/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• Fox's UFC (1.1) topped NBC's playoff hockey (0.8), but both events fell behind ESPN's primetime NBA playoff games (1.14/1.40). UFC was even with the year-ago evening, while the hockey matched the one pre-Finals postseason game last year (on May 24). 

Spotted Ratings, Friday 4/17/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: 20/20 adjusted down and the two-hour rating for The Amazing Race adjusted up to 1.1.

• The CW's new Friday night lineup did... what a lineup introduced this late in the regular season tends to do. But newbie Cedric's Barber Battle (0.2) was rejected in particularly sound fashion, which prevented an original Whose Line Is It Anyway? (0.4) from doing any better than last week's repeats. Whose Line? hit a bunch of 0.4's at this time last spring, so this isn't exactly a catastrophe, but the network may end up moving it to 8/7c to take advantage of the local programming lead-in. Leading out of Whose Line? was new drama The Messengers (0.3); it built narrowly from Whose Line? in total viewers but clearly didn't do enough to make the network look bad for treating it this way.

• Finale night for ABC's comedies saw Last Man Standing (1.1) and Cristela (0.9) each inch down. Cristela had pretty decent retention these last few weeks, but it will likely end up suffering from ABC having so many other comedy options. And Shark Tank (1.5) was #1 as usual but unable to rebound from last week's irregularly low point.

• Without originals for the crime dramas, CBS had a low-end two-hour edition of The Amazing Race (1.1/1.0), while NBC's Grimm (1.0) gave back last week's slight uptick.

SpotVault - The Messengers (CW) - 2014-15 Ratings

The Messengers

Fridays, 9/8c, CW

SpotVault - Cedric's Barber Battle (CW) - 2014-15 Ratings

Cedric's Barber Battle

Fridays, 8/7c, CW

Spotted Ratings, Monday 4/20/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: If you had a 1.5 or higher in the prelims, you adjusted up, meaning a tenth for Dancing with the Stars, Mike and Molly, Scorpion, The Voice and Gotham, and a very rare two-tenth upgrade for 2 Broke Girls (2.1). The first three CBS shows all hit their highest ratings in over a month (and in over two months for Scorpion).

• Finale night for CBS' very successful drama newbie Scorpion (2.1) produced a nice bounce over the last few episodes, and CBS' comedies 2 Broke Girls (1.9) and Mike and Molly (1.9) were also narrowly up. But the momentum quickly ended at 10/9c as NCIS: Los Angeles (1.4) dropped to an abnormally low number with all of its drama competitors in play. 

• On NBC, The Voice (2.5) took a sizable hit. This was the same week that a similar decline (3.4 -> 3.0) occurred last year, so it remained at the same mid-teens year-to-year decline that has been the norm in recent weeks.

• ABC's Dancing with the Stars (2.0) and Castle (1.4) were both slightly down, while Fox's Gotham (1.5) remained at last week's low return number and The Following (1.2) inched up. The CW's The Originals (0.5) rebounded but Jane the Virgin remained mired at 0.4.

A18-49+: 2015 Ratings Races to Watch in the Last Month

Today marks exactly one month from the end of another regular season, and exactly one week from the start of our three-week upfront extravaganza. Since we probably won't be discussing some of this stuff in-depth until the summer, it's a nice time to take a look at some of the ratings implications for the last month of the season. Though there are not many relevant data points left from a renewal/cancellation perspective, some things of historical interest are still to be decided in the month to come. Here's a look at a very close network race, a very good newbie class, and what's yet to be decided for some of the biggest shows. All numbers through Sunday, April 12.

First Two Weeks, American Odyssey

WEEK ONE 
Rating: 1.1
Lead-in: A.D. The Bible Continues (2.3 overall, 2.4 at 9:30)
Competition: The Ten Commandments (1.4 overall, 1.5 in 10:00 hour), Battle Creek (0.7)

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 4/16/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The Big Bang Theory (3.9) got a two-tenth upgrade, making it +0.4 week-to-week in finals. Backstrom (0.8) also upticked to avoid a new low. The Odd Couple (2.1) and Reign (0.3) went down a tick.
  

• Scandal's nightmarish run of five straight drops finally came to an end, and in fairly resounding fashion. The show came back from a week off and rebounded by three tenths to a 2.4 rating, above the last two weeks. Grey's Anatomy (2.1) had another strong night in its return to 8/7c, matching last week's 9/8c episode and two tenths above the episode in this timeslot two weeks ago. And American Crime (1.1) was also on the rebound, albeit still below 50% lead-in retention for the second straight week.

• CBS also continued its rebound from some oddly low recent ratings as The Big Bang Theory (3.7) is getting a little more reasonable, The Odd Couple (2.2) also inched up and Mom (2.2) had another impressive outing by growing two tenths in its second 9/8c showing. Even Elementary (1.4) was above average.

• Fox and the CW did not fare so well; Bones had its second straight preliminary new low 1.0, and given its half-hours (0.9/1.0) it will need a big bounce to adjust up for the second straight week. Backstrom (0.7) also hit a new low for Fox. And The Vampire Diaries was back from nearly a month off with what would be just its second 0.6 ever, and it had similarly unpromising half-hours (0.6/0.5).

First Two Weeks, A.D. The Bible Continues

WEEK ONE 
Rating: 2.3
Lead-in: Dateline (1.0)
Competition: The Ten Commandments (1.4 overall, 1.4 in 9:00 hour), The Good Wife (1.0), The Last Man on Earth (R) (0.8/0.7)

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 4/15/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The Middle (2.0), 8:30 The Goldbergs (2.2) and Criminal Minds (2.1) went up a tenth. Supernatural (0.6) went down a tenth.

• CBS didn't preliminarily show any benefit from NBC's crime dramas going into repeats, as Criminal Minds (2.0) was barely down and CSI: Cyber (1.5) even. Meanwhile, Survivor (2.2) gave back all of its crazy bounce from last week, but another two-tenth adjustment like it had last Wednesday could change the picture.

• ABC tried The Goldbergs in a special 9:30 original airing (1.9) after a repeat of Modern Family (1.8), and it matched last week's Black-ish in the same situation. The 8:30 edition of Goldbergs (2.1) was slightly up, though, leading out of an even The Middle (1.9). Nashville (1.2) rebounded by a tenth from last week's ugly drop, but this still would've been a new season low before last week's debacle.

• The most disappointing broadcast result was American Idol, which remained mired at last week's awful 1.4 even though NBC didn't have The Voice in the picture.

• And the CW was back from a week off with Arrow (0.9) and Supernatural (0.7) each inching up from the season lows two weeks ago. 

SpotVault - Game of Thrones (HBO) - 2014-15 Ratings

Game of Thrones

Sundays, 9/8c, HBO

SpotVault - Silicon Valley (HBO) - 2014-15 Ratings

Silicon Valley

Sundays, 10/9c, HBO

SpotVault - Veep (HBO) - 2014-15 Ratings

Veep

Sundays, 10:30/9:30c, HBO

SpotVault - Turn (AMC) - 2014-15 Ratings

Turn

Mondays, 10/9c, AMC

SpotVault - The Comedians (FX) - 2014-15 Ratings

The Comedians

Thursdays, 10/9c, FX

SpotVault - Louie (FX) - Summer 2015 Ratings

Louie

Thursdays, 10:30/9:30c, FX

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 4/14/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Fresh Off the Boat, NCIS, Person of Interest, The Voice, Hell's Kitchen and The Flash were all up by 0.1.

• It was a good night to be a comic book show. ABC's Agents of SHIELD (1.6) inched up for the second straight week and now looks quite healthy after sputtering to 1.4 a couple weeks ago. And the CW had a very good number for an Arrow crossover on The Flash (1.3), while iZombie (0.8) validated last week's seemingly crazy 0.7 after a repeat by rising to match the premiere rating. It seems like this is now a legitimate Supernatural-esque performer, which is very good news.

• NBC's 9/8c comedy block returned after a week off, and there seems to be some separation developing between Undateable (1.5) and One Big Happy (1.1). The former's result was particularly decent given the continued erosion of its The Voice lead-in (2.4).

• CBS had a pretty rough night with NCIS (1.9) bound for another new low. NCIS: New Orleans (1.8) and a Person of Interest (1.4) guest-starring Taraji P. Henson only barely recovered even against over a point less of NBC competition.

• And with New Girl (0.5) in repeats, Weird Loners (0.6) shed a tenth in week three.

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 4/12/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: CBS ended up with a 3.3 in the last 16 minutes of Masters coverage leading into an above-average 1.8 for 60 Minutes and 1.4 for Madam Secretary. The Good Wife (1.1) was also up a tenth week-to-week.

• CABLE UPDATE: The Game of Thrones premiere averaged 8 million viewers and a 4.19 A18-49, up 16% from last year's premiere and a new series high (beating the 3.95 from late last season). The season two premiere for Silicon Valley (1.26) was up an almost identical 17% year-to-year. MTV's Movie Awards (0.78) garnered a lot less interest than usual.

• Opposite a lot of cable competition, it was not a positive week two for NBC's Sunday lineup, as A.D The Bible Continues (1.7) and American Odyssey (0.8) each tumbled by over 25%. Odyssey is certainly dunzo now, and the question becomes whether A.D. can hold on from here. (The Bible actually dropped nearly the same amount in week two, but it went up from there and the week two number ended up being the series low.)

• The other networks were also in at least mostly original mode. Fox saw a below-average Family Guy (1.5) in an odd 8:30 airing that led into yet another full hour of The Last Man on Earth (1.3/1.3). ABC saw both Once Upon a Time (1.6) and Revenge (0.9) inch down again, though Secrets and Lies held at 1.3. And CBS probably got at least a small boost with the end of the Masters leading in, but we'll have to wait for finals since it overran about 15 minutes into primetime.

Spotted Ratings, Saturday 4/11/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC's second go at primetime boxing (0.8) was down by three tenths from the first one a month ago, perhaps nicked a bit by additional competition from NASCAR (1.0). Though NASCAR came out on top, it was 33% behind the year-ago race.

• ABC hit a new low with what seems to be the final edition of In an Instant (0.5).

Spotted Ratings, Friday 4/10/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: 20/20 (1.3) inched down.

• Despite a well below average outing from Shark Tank (1.5), ABC still dominated an original-heavy Friday with a higher-end 20/20 (1.4) at 10/9c and steady comedies Last Man Standing (1.2) and Cristela (1.0).

• CBS was slightly down across the board with The Amazing Race (1.1), Hawaii Five-0 (1.1) and Blue Bloods (1.2).

• NBC got a tenth back for Grimm (1.1) but inched down with Dateline (1.1).

• Assuming it holds in finals, the CW had a very good repeat hour from Whose Line Is It Anyway? (0.5) the week before its return in originals.

Spotted Ratings, Monday 4/13/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: With baseball pre-emptions removed, both The Originals and Jane the Virgin went down two tenths to 0.4, the first ever for The Originals. Dancing with the Stars (2.2) and The Voice (2.9) each went up a tenth and The Night Shift (1.3) went down a tenth.

• It was a rough return after a month off for Fox's Gotham (1.5), which shed 25% of its last pre-hiatus episode (also a pre-DST episode) and was three tenths below its low point from early February. This was always gonna be a tough spot, but this seems like a somewhat steeper decline than Fox would've wanted. And it only got lead-out The Following (1.1) to what it usually got after a Gotham repeat (but two tenths above last week's ep against the NCAA championship).

• There was mostly week-to-week steadiness for originals on the rest of the big four. The most promising results were Dancing with the Stars (2.1), up at least a tenth, and NCIS: Los Angeles (1.6) perhaps benefiting a bit from Castle being in repeats. Scorpion (1.9) was barely down to preliminarily tie its series low from late November.

• It seems certain that the CW's The Originals (0.6) and Jane the Virgin (0.6) will come down in finals due to pre-emptions (in New York and possibly elsewhere). Consider "wait for finals" a pretty good rule of thumb for any CW rating that looks high the rest of the way.

First Two Weeks, Weird Loners

WEEK ONE 
Rating: 0.70
Lead-in: New Girl (1.04)
Competition: Agents of SHIELD (1.4 overall, 1.4 at 9:30), The Dovekeepers (1.0 overall, 1.0 at 9:30), One Big Happy (1.2), iZombie (0.7 overall, 0.7 at 9:30)

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 4/9/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The Big Bang Theory (3.5) and, mercifully, Bones (1.1) each picked up a tenth in finals, putting Bones even week-to-week. NBC's SVU repeat (0.9) and Dateline (1.1) inched down.

• CBS appears to have gotten back at least a bit of its huge drop last week in the 8/7c hour, but only a bit. The Big Bang Theory (3.4) was even with last week's final but is a usual adjust-up candidate, while The Odd Couple (2.1) was up by 0.2. A tryout at 9/8c didn't really do anything for Mom (2.0), whose lead-in wasn't that different from the usual Big Bang repeats.

• To celebrate 10 years of Grey's Anatomy, ABC re-aired the 2005 pilot at 8/7c (1.1) and an original episode (2.1) in the show's historic 9/8c timeslot. Though that actually matched last week's Scandal rating, it didn't stop American Crime (0.9) from taking yet another hit.

• And Fox may have had the night's worst news as Bones (1.0) is starting to get very ugly; it inched down to its second consecutive new low and couldn't even beat NBC's repeat of Law and Order: SVU (1.0).

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 4/8/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: Survivor got a rare two-tenth upward adjustment to put it at a crazy-high 2.5, actually up year-to-year. Criminal Minds (2.1) and CSI: Cyber (1.5) also added a tenth for CBS, as did The Voice (2.2) and ABC's The Middle (1.9) and The Goldbergs (2.0).

• A special Wednesday edition of The Voice (2.1) was (as usual) well below the show's regularly-scheduled editions and could only match the Wednesday clip show run in early March. It boosted Law and Order: SVU (1.8) a good bit, but there was no tangible effect on Chicago PD (1.5).

• Perhaps The Voice's biggest impact was on competitor American Idol (1.4), which was obliterated to easily a new low 1.3 in the 8:00 hour and could only recover to 1.5 at 9:00.

• For the first time this season, ABC had a repeat Modern Family (1.7) amid originals for everything else. The 8:00 hour of The Middle (1.8) and The Goldbergs (1.9) was close to even despite this and the added Voice competition, while Black-ish (1.9) was not that far below average with easily its worst lead-in ever. The only real ugliness was Nashville (1.1), which took a major hit at 10/9c.

• CBS was back with its regular lineup as Survivor (2.3) was the winner in the 8/7c reality logjam. Criminal Minds (2.0) was slightly down and CSI: Cyber remained mired at its probably-not-enough 1.4. 

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 4/7/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The only adjustment was to NCIS: New Orleans (1.7), up a tenth.

• NBC sat out its Tuesday comedies for another two-hour edition of The Voice (2.7), which as usual significantly boosted 10/9c occupant Chicago Fire (2.0). Preliminarily, this was very close to Fire's post-Voice ratings in early March when The Voice was much stronger.

• Like the last time The Voice was two hours, this had a major effect on CBS' NCIS: New Orleans (1.6). Its NCIS (2.1) lead-in inched down to a new low and Person of Interest (1.3) was also on the low end.

• ABC got some much-welcome relief for its sinking Tuesday lineup as Fresh Off the Boat (1.4) and Agents of SHIELD (1.5) both reclaimed the tenth lost last week. A repeat of Fresh at 8:30 (1.0) was also a one-tenth improvement on last week's Repeat After Me. Only Forever (0.9) was down as both of its drama competitors were back in action.

• For Fox, at least it didn't get any worse at 9:30 as Weird Loners (0.7) was even in week two. But since that show's already dead, the far more pressing issue is New Girl (0.9), which has plummeted into disaster territory since Loners came around. It did face The Voice this week, but it was down another tenth from an already horrible result last week.

• If it holds in finals, this was definitely the most encouraging result yet for iZombie, which held its 0.7 from the last two weeks despite following a repeat of The Flash (0.5). It'd be pretty good even if it doesn't hold in finals!

Spotted Ratings, Saturday 3/28/15 & Saturday 4/4/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• With no 1.0 ratings on broadcast for the last couple Saturdays, the excitement has come with basketball on TBS. Kentucky/Notre Dame topped 3/28 with a whooping 4.89 rating, while the Final Four games on TBS on 4/4 got 3.25 and 5.48. As with most of the late part of the tournament, those were a huge improvement year-to-year; the Final Four games last year got 2.07 and 3.40.

SpotVault - A.D. The Bible Continues (NBC) - 2014-15 Ratings

A.D. The Bible Continues

Sundays, 9/8c, NBC

SpotVault - American Odyssey (NBC) - 2014-15 Ratings

American Odyssey

Sundays, 10/9c, NBC

SpotVault - Weird Loners (Fox) - 2014-15 Ratings

Weird Loners

Tuesdays, 9:30/8:30c, Fox

SpotVault - The Royals (E!) - 2014-15 Ratings

The Royals

Sundays, 10/9c, USA

SpotVault - Finding Carter (MTV) - 2014-15 Ratings

Finding Carter

Tuesdays, 10/9c, MTV

SpotVault - Young & Hungry (ABC Family) - 2014-15 Ratings

Young & Hungry

Wednesdays, 8/7c, ABC Family

SpotVault - Salem (WGN America) - Summer 2015 Ratings

Salem

Sundays, 10/9c, WGN America

Spotted Ratings, Monday 4/6/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The big game adjusted all the way up a whooping 9.1, 26% above last year's game. The total viewership (28.26 million) was the biggest in 18 years and the 18-49 rating was the biggest in 13 years (since a 9.3 in 2002).

• The NCAA basketball championship game's 9:00-11:00 preliminary (7.2) was 20% above the 6.0 for the preliminary last year, and the household overnights were the highest for the game in 18 years. Last year's game ultimately adjusted up to a 7.2 in finals.

• With seemingly a much stronger game than last year, the broadcast competitors got nicked a little more than usual. On NBC, The Voice (2.9) lost at least a couple tenths on a night when it actually rose last year, but The Night Shift (1.4) seems to have rallied from last week's low. The Following (0.9) and Jane the Virgin (0.4) both had bad results, but Dancing with the Stars (2.0) continued a very steady season, losing just a tenth.

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 4/5/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC's twelve-part series A.D. The Bible Continues opened with a perfectly fine but unspectacular 9.5 million viewers and 2.3 demo rating. This was below every point from History's parent series The Bible, which premiered at a 3.3 and dropped to its 2.5 low in week two. Matching those numbers was always going to be difficult, so this definitely isn't a disaster, but personally I would say it's in the bottom half of the range NBC would be content with.

• That audience didn't really take to lead-out drama American Odyssey (1.2), which didn't start off meaningfully better than fellow NBC midseason dramas The Slap (1.1) and Allegiance (1.1). It's probably got to hold roughly 100% of this going forward to have a shot, and that is always unlikely.

• ABC tried to temper the A.D. interest by airing its annual presentation of The Ten Commandments (1.4) on Easter Sunday for the first time in over a decade. It was ahead of the last couple years of Saturday ratings and probably had about the same Plus as the last Sunday airing in 2004 (3.3).

• CBS was in original regular series mode and had nothing unusual to report, other than 60 Minutes (0.9) and Madam Secretary (1.1) giving back the boosts they got from recent basketball lead-ins. Fox was in full repeat mode.

Above based on preliminary adults 18-49 ratings unless otherwise noted. Full table forthcoming!

The Question, Sunday 4/5/15: Will A.D. Be a Hit of Biblical Proportions?

Two years ago, History miniseries The Bible was an absolute smash by basic cable standards, premiering at a 3.3 with over 13 million total viewers in March 2013. And it was seemingly pretty well-received by this huge audience, getting back to a 3.0 for the finale against The Walking Dead's finale a month later and averaging a 2.85 overall. That success led to a lot of interest in the continuation A.D. The Bible Continues, won by NBC and kicking off tonight with no competition from The Walking Dead (ended last week) or Game of Thrones (premieres next week).

Despite airing on a network with higher household coverage, it's two years later and chronicles somewhat less familiar events, so it may not be as big a deal as the first series. But tonight's premiere should cover better-known territory (the death and resurrection of Christ), and it may be able to ride the Easter holiday and tap into a large chunk of the crowd that showed up for the first series. Will A.D. be a hit of biblical proportions? That's The Question for Sunday, April 5, 2015.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 4/3/15

I'm out of town this week, but the preliminary numbers are out there. So here's your Friday 4/3/15 open thread. Will fill in my thoughts later!

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 4/2/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• FINALS UPDATE: The Big Bang Theory (3.4) got back two tenths, making for only a 1.0 point drop week-to-week. Grey's Anatomy (1.9) was also up a tenth.

• The beginning of Easter weekend produced even more depressed viewing levels than usual and a huge broadcast bloodbath. Perhaps nothing was more shocking than a whooping 1.2-point drop for The Big Bang Theory (3.2). Considering the show's last 4.4 was already after DST, that's pretty alarming. It's weird that The Odd Couple (1.9) could drop six tenths and yet still have better lead-in retention than in its last episode, but here we are. Even when The Odd Couple looked promising in weeks two and three, that basketball hiatus still loomed large as a major obstacle, and it sure seems to have taken quite a toll. CBS did hold up better in the last half of the night with Elementary (1.2) and especially Mom (2.0).

• The panic continued in Shondaland, with Scandal (2.1) dropping another two tenths to make it 1.2 points in five weeks. But unlike in previous weeks, this time it was joined by a big Grey's Anatomy drop (1.8), as that show tumbled to three tenths behind its previous low. American Crime (1.1) also gave back last week's slight rally and then some.

• Fox's Bones (1.1) and Backstrom (0.8) also dropped to new lows, probably more in line with what would be expected in this viewing-depressed environment after slightly overachieving for their spring returns last week.

• The only steady scripted shows were NBC's The Blacklist (1.6) and finale of The Slap (0.7), likely aided by an above-average Dateline (1.3) at 8/7c.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 4/1/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• The week after ABC's huge comedy crash, the results were much more mixed. The downward movement continued for The Middle (1.8) and The Goldbergs (2.0), each down another tenth, but Modern Family (3.0) inched up and Black-ish (2.4) made a significant comeback. This was that show's best rating since before Thanksgiving (and probably its most promising result in context since at least the third week of the series).

• Another night off for CBS' crime dramas (in favor of The Dovekeepers (0.9)) meant, as usual, another good night for NBC's crime dramas. Law and Order: SVU (1.5) was up two tenths and Chicago PD (1.6) was up one. But mercy renewal hopes seem to be really fading for The Mysteries of Laura (0.9), which hit a new low.

• The night's only really weak numbers came on the CW, where Arrow (0.8) fell two tenths and Supernatural (0.6) a tenth. But to put in perspective how hot Arrow has been lately, the show was still even with the year-ago evening.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 3/31/15

WHAT MATTERS:

• A new series premiere night was an epic disaster for Fox, as newbie Weird Loners (0.7) went completely unnoticed. Though it will surely be gone and forgotten soon, it was the huge drop from New Girl (1.0) that may have longer-term implications. This was a new series low and at least three tenths below anything it has done since the new year, though it is worth noting that this was about the same time of year that it crashed to very low 1's after Glee last season.

• Things are also getting dicier at ABC, where Fresh Off the Boat (1.3) and Agents of SHIELD (1.4) each shed yet another precious tenth to hit new lows. Only Forever (1.1) fared well by its own standards as both of its procedural competitors sat out.

• It was a reasonable third week for the March 17 premieres, as iZombie hung at 0.7 as The Flash (1.3) inched up. And Undateable (1.4) and One Big Happy (1.2) managed pretty steady showings even with The Voice (2.0) in clip show mode.

• And CBS garnered very little demo interest in miniseries The Dovekeepers (1.0), as Cote de Pablo's return to CBS couldn't even retain half of its lead-in from her old show NCIS (2.2).