WHAT MATTERS:
- CBS brought back celebrity prank show I Get That a Lot (1.0) as a one-off special for
the first time in nearly three years. Its 1.0 rating went well behind
the 1.9 from January 2013, when it aired alongside the People's Choice
Awards. Also: Code Black (R) (0.7), Criminal Minds (R) (0.9)
- ABC (all repeats): The Middle (1.1), The Goldbergs (0.9), Modern Family (1.1), Black-ish (0.9), The Goldbergs (0.7), Black-ish (0.7)
- NBC (all repeats): Law and Order: SVU (0.8), Law & Order: SVU (0.9), Chicago PD (0.7)
- Fox (all repeats): Empire (0.6), Rosewood (0.5)
- CW (all repeats): iHeartRadio Jingle Ball (0.4/0.4/0.3), Whose Line Is It Anyway? (0.3)
New Year's Eve Live Specials
Miss America, Miss Universe, Miss USA
The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show
WHAT MATTERS:
- CBS' annual late December presentation of The Kennedy Center Honors (0.9) took a 0.3 dip from last year, tying the 0.9 low from two years ago when it aired on Sunday. Its lead-in NCIS (R) (1.2) was the night's highest-rated program.
- On an ABC repeat night, The Muppets stuck out like a sore thumb again: Fresh Off the Boat (0.8), The Muppets (0.5), Beyond the Tank (0.6/0.6).
- NBC again ran a three-hour repeat lineup that will be in all originals next week: Hollywood Game Night (0.8), Chicago Med (0.8), Chicago Fire (0.7).
- Fox also previewed next week's original lineup with repeats (except that Brooklyn Nine-Nine will be at 9/8c): New Girl (0.6), Grandfathered (0.5), New Girl (0.5), The Grinder (0.4).
- CW (all repeats): The Flash (0.4), iZombie (0.2)
It's time for my fifth annual look back at the year's top 10 moments in
TV ratings! As
always, the criteria are pretty subjective, but I go for a blend of 1)
relatively isolated incidents that are impressive for their sheer
enormity/cultural impact and 2)
moments that exemplify much larger trends in TV this year. This was mostly a bad year for new entertainment series, so I feel like there are a lot more of #1 than I would normally like, and thus I'm just releasing all 10 at once rather than try to build suspense. But please let me know about my most egregious rankings/omissions. Happy New Year!
Animated Holiday Specials
Peanuts Holiday Specials on ABC
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: NBC adjusted down to 0.9/0.6/0.8/0.6/0.4, putting the Superstore original actually behind the 8/7c repeat.
- After a ten-hour Nielsen delay due to a methodology change (see ShowBuzzDaily's explanation), the Monday prelims brought an all-fractional comedy night for NBC that may get even worse after finals due to a Monday Night Football preemption. It included a repeat of Superstore (0.9), a repeat of Telenovela (0.7), an original Superstore (0.9) and an original Telenovela (0.8). The "originals" had been available on demand since the shows' respective post-Voice previews 3-4 weeks ago, and given the lack of separation from the repeat numbers it seems unlikely they got much promotion. NBC also had a repeat of Blindspot (0.6) at 10/9c.
- ABC's holiday specials Happy New Year, Charlie Brown (1.1) and Rudolph's Shiny New Year (0.7) took big dips from their respective 1.5/1.0 on this night last year. (And so did the 10/9c repeat of Castle (0.5), which had a 0.8 last year.)
- CBS (all repeats): Supergirl (0.9), Scorpion (1.0), NCIS: Los Angeles (0.9)
- Fox (all repeats): Gotham (0.4), Bones (0.5)
- Once again, the CW beat its usual Monday lineup in 18-49 with repeats of Penn and Teller: Fool Us (0.5/0.5).
The Kennedy Center Honors on CBS
The American Music Awards on ABC
WHAT MATTERS:
- CBS offered up another promising original edition of Undercover Boss (1.4), which matched the second Sunday episode from last year. It led out of 60 Minutes (1.4), whose preliminary number could include some regional NFL, and led into a repeat of the two-hour CSI finale (0.9).
- The national NFL overrun was on Fox, which bumped up a repeat of The Simpsons (1.9) and had less effect on repeats of Tuesday-bound Brooklyn Nine-Nine (1.1), Family Guy (1.0) and hiatus-bound The Last Man on Earth (0.6).
- Those repeats crushed ABC's low-rated repeat marathon of The Muppets (0.4/0.3/0.3/0.3) head-to-head. ABC sandwiched The Muppets with repeats of America's Funniest Home Videos (0.8) and Shark Tank (0.5). More on NBC's football (which looks like another relatively soft outing) after finals.
- Quick Christmas night notes: the late-afternoon NBA lead-in helped bump ABC's CMA Country Christmas (1.1) to a better rating than it got in its initial run on December 3 (0.9). The 8:00 hour also featured some special The Andy Griffith Show classics on CBS (0.8), plus NBC's burn-off of the final two episodes of Truth Be Told (0.5/0.4).
These numbers are current through Wednesday, December 23.
WHAT MATTERS:
- Had some earlier Twitter thoughts on finale Sunday for Showtime and AMC.
The Affair
Sundays, 10/9c, Showtime
The Affair
Sundays, 10/9c, Showtime
Unforgettable
Fridays, 8/7c, A&E
The Expanse
Tuesdays, 10/9c, Syfy
WHAT MATTERS:
- ABC (all repeats): A Charlie Brown Christmas (1.0), It's Your 50th Christmas, Charlie Brown (0.6), The Great Christmas Light Fight (0.5)
- CBS (all repeats): The Big Bang Theory (1.1), Life in Pieces (0.8), Mom (0.8), 2 Broke Girls (0.7), Elementary (0.5)
- NBC (all repeats): Movie: It's a Wonderful Life (0.8)
- Fox (all repeats): TV's Funniest Animated Stars (0.4)
- CW (all repeats): Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (0.2), Whose Line Is It Anyway? (0.2/0.2)
WHAT MATTERS:
- ABC (all repeats): The Middle (0.9), The Goldbergs (0.9), Modern Family (1.0), Black-ish (0.8), Fresh Off the Boat (0.7), Black-ish (0.6)
- CBS: I Love Lucy Christmas Special (1.1), Hawaii Five-0 (R) (0.7), Criminal Minds (R) (0.9)
- NBC (all repeats): How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1.2), How Murray Saved Christmas (0.9), Adele Live in New York (1.1), Michael Buble's Christmas in Hollywood (0.6)
- Fox (all repeats): Empire (0.5), Rosewood (0.4)
- CW (all repeats): Arrow (0.3), Supernatural (0.3)
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS: Chicago Fire (0.6) and iZombie (0.2) each dropped.
- ABC: Fresh Off the Boat (R) (0.8), The Muppets (R) (0.6), The Year: 2015 (1.0/1.1)
- CBS: NCIS (R) (1.2), NCIS: New Orleans (R) (1.1), Limitless (R) (0.7)
- NBC: previewing its winter Tuesday lineup with Hollywood Game Night (R) (0.8), Chicago Med (R) (0.7), Chicago Fire (R) (0.7)
- Fox: The Simpsons (R) (0.7), Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas (R) (0.7), Taraji & Terrence's White Hot Holidays (R) (0.5)
- CW: The Flash (R) (0.4), iZombie (R) (0.3)
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: On a very near-season low Monday Night Football (3.45) night, the preempted markets held up pretty well in finals. The Great Christmas Light Fight (1.2) lost just a tenth and was thus just 0.1 behind last year's finale (easily the best year-to-year trend of the three episodes). And The Great Holiday Baking Show (1.1) didn't drop at all, giving it the best rating since the premiere and possibly sealing its return.
- NBC's only drop was 0.1 for Telenovela (0.6). Supergirl (0.9) also inched down in finals for CBS, while CW's big Penn and Teller repeats held at 0.5.
- ABC had the last of the fall finales for entertainment series programming as The Great Christmas Light Fight (1.3) and The Great Holiday Baking Show (1.1) each wrapped up. These results are pending a Monday Night Football preemption in Detroit.
- Depending on finals adjustments, CBS may end up winning the night with repeats as they got big business out of The Big Bang Theory (1.7/1.8) at 8/7c, followed by Supergirl (1.0) and Scorpion (0.8).
- Elsewhere:
- NBC: Superstore (R) (0.8), Telenovela (R) (0.7), Saturday Night Live Christmas (R) (1.3) are also pending a Monday Night Football preemption.
- Fox: Gotham (R) (0.5), Bones (R) (0.4)
- CW: Penn and Teller: Fool Us (R) (0.5/0.5)
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: Undercover Boss (1.6) got a surprising two-tenth upward adjustment, putting it just a tenth behind last year's premiere. Miss Universe adjusted down to 1.6. And Sunday Night Football ended up with a season low 6.1.
- For the second straight year, CBS is giving Undercover Boss (1.4) a short Sunday run in December before it settles in as The Amazing Race filler on Friday. This premiere was down three tenths from the 1.7 opener from last December. It led into CSI: Cyber (1.1), which was above average as CBS bumped it up to near its normal start time and nixed a scheduled Madam Secretary repeat due to the length of the NFL overrun. Both shows started a couple minutes after the hour.
- After a successful return to broadcast on NBC last year, the Miss Universe Pageant (1.6/1.7/1.9) moved over to Fox this season and had another respectable showing. Though its controversial ending has generated a lot of buzz, with a 7:00 ET start time it was still down somewhat vs. last year's 2.0, when it aired from 8:00 to 11:00 in late January.
- ABC went with its usual late-December telecast of The Sound of Music (0.6/1.0/1.2/1.1), this time a sing-along version. It was down a bit from the low-1's level it's maintained the last few years.
- And Sunday Night Football (4.8/5.7/5.3) dominated but looks to have put up a relatively soft rating by its standards in the prelims. More after finals!
These numbers are current through Thursday, December 17.
WHAT MATTERS:
-
This week saw Syfy use its three-night miniseries Childhood's End (0.43 -> 0.31 -> 0.33) as a lead-in for previews of its new drama series. On Monday and Tuesday, it was space opera The Expanse (0.33 -> 0.27), which will actually continue airing on Tuesdays through the holidays and into the winter. Wednesday brought The Magicians (0.26), which was more of a true "special preview" situation as it's not airing again until late January. At least so far, despite what seems like a bigger money investment, there's little indication that these will be the shows to get the channel out of its rut of 0.2-0.3 same-day ratings for dramas.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: Shark Tank (0.7) and Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer (0.3) adjusted down.
- Only Fox was in original entertainment series mode with its combo of MasterChef Junior (1.1) and World's Funniest (0.6), with both series down a tenth from last week.
- The newsmagazines were also original as a two-hour Dateline (1.1) dominated the 9:00-11:00 block. It led out of a special edition of Caught on Camera (0.7). ABC's 20/20 (0.7) was well below average as it led out of a repeat of Shark Tank (0.8). ABC's whole night seemed to be somewhat derailed by a poor showing from the newly acquired holiday special Yes, Virginia (0.5) at 8:30, which dropped from its Last Man Standing (0.7) lead-in.
- CBS offered up holiday specials Frosty the Snowman / Frosty Returns (0.9) and annual concert special A Home for the Holidays (0.6). Home was actually up a tenth from last year.
- And CW had the reliably decent holiday special Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer (0.4), plus a repeat of Penn and Teller: Fool Us (0.3).
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: The Big Bang Theory (4.1) was unchanged after finals, giving it easily the series' highest rating since its return to Thursday. Life in Pieces dropped to a 2.2, still its best rating since the series premiere, and Mom had a new season high 1.8. 2 Broke Girls (1.6) and Elementary (1.0) were at more typical ratings.
- CBS' The Big Bang Theory (4.1), Life in Pieces (2.5), Mom (2.0), 2 Broke Girls (1.7) and Elementary (1.2) are pending preemptions in both of the local Thursday Night Football markets. St. Louis and Tampa are not huge markets, but downward adjustments are likely.
- Another notable original this Thursday was a one-off episode of NBC's Running Wild (0.9) featuring President Obama. 0.9 is not an impressive number; in fact, it only tied Wild's low from last summer. But it was a step up from the lead-in repeat holiday specials How Murray Saved Christmas (0.5) and Kelly Clarkson's Cautionary Christmas Music Tale (0.6).
- ABC actually beat the president's Running Wild head-to-head in the 10/9c hour with the annual Barbara Walters' 10 Most Fascinating People special (0.9/1.1/1.1), which led out of the two Prep & Landing specials (0.8/0.9) and a repeat of Modern Family (0.9).
- Fox brought up the big four rear with an American Country Countdown special (0.5) and a special edition of World's Funniest (0.5), just barely beating CW's iHeartRadio Jingle Ball (0.4).
WHAT MATTERS:
- CBS' Survivor wrapped up another healthy season with a two-hour finale (2.2) leading into the reunion at 10/9c (1.7). Both these numbers went just barely below the 2.4/1.8 to close out last fall and the 2.3/1.8 finale night from spring 2015.
- Survivor went up against a wasteland of broadcast repeats; the only other original was the annual Nashville "On the Record" special (0.4), which was lower-rated than almost all of the repeats. ABC still finished second for the night thanks to strong comedy repeats (1.3/1.3/1.4/1.2), while NBC had holiday special Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas (0.8) leading into Law and Order: SVU (0.7) and Chicago PD (0.9). Fox had Empire (0.7) and Rosewood (0.6), while CW went with Arrow (0.3) and Supernatural (0.3).
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: NCIS: New Orleans (1.7) adjusted up and the 9/8c Grandfathered (0.4) adjusted down. The GOP debate averaged a 3.84 demo from 9:00-11:06 (and a 3.08 for the opening minutes in the 8:00 hour).
- After a huge last few weeks out of The Voice, it's a bit disappointing that the show was only able to get to a 2.9 for Tuesday's two-hour season finale; this was down by four tenths from last fall's finale and matched the spring 2015 finale, not to mention it actually went well below even the 3.2 for Monday's performance finale. Another huge Republican debate on CNN probably didn't help. Leading in was a Voice clips show at 8/7c (1.8).
- CBS brought its Tuesday drama lineup back for one last original run in 2015 and saw fairly low end numbers out of NCIS (2.1), NCIS: New Orleans (1.6) and Limitless (1.3).
- Nobody else had anything original, and ABC fared best among the rest with holiday specials Toy Story that Time Forgot (1.1), Shrek the Halls (1.0) and I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown (1.0). The Toy Story special actually improved on its first rebroadcast from a couple weeks ago when it faced The Wiz Live! A Shark Tank repeat (0.8) rounded it out at 10/9c.
- Fox had repeats of Grandfathered (0.6), The Grinder (0.5), Grandfathered (0.5) and The Grinder (0.4) as it prepares to return to two-hour comedy on Tuesday this winter. And CW had repeats of The Flash (0.3) and iZombie (0.2).
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: ABC's reality series each adjusted down by two tenths, leaving The Great Christmas Light Fight (1.1) a tenth behind last week's premiere and The Great Holiday Baking Show (0.9) even. CBS was much less dinged by its preemption as the only downward adjuster was Scorpion (1.8), and only by a tenth. (So it was still Scorpion's best rating in four episodes.) Jane the Virgin couldn't keep its 0.4 after finals, adjusting down to its second-ever 0.3. (The Voice was erroneously listed at 3.3 initially; it had a 3.2 prelim and kept it in finals.)
- NBC overwhelmed broadcast primetime on its final Voice Monday of 2015. The network had a huge result at 10/9c from special Adele Live in New York, which averaged a 3.0 with over 11 million viewers. Perhaps with some help from the Adele buzz, The Voice (3.2) itself finished its Monday run on an exceptional note, easily beating last year's 2.8 performance finale and at least 0.4 points above recent weeks as well.
- Not a whole lot else can be said yet since the only other two big networks with originals are unfortunately pending Monday Night Football preemptions. ABC had The Great Christmas Light Fight (1.3) and The Great Holiday Baking Show (1.1), while CBS had its drama fall finales with Supergirl (1.5), Scorpion (1.9) and NCIS: Los Angeles (1.4).
- After taking two weeks off, CW's Jane the Virgin randomly came back for one original week and hit its usual 0.4. It led out of The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show (0.4), which matched its CW rebroadcasts from the last two years.
- Fox punted with repeats of Gotham (0.4) and Bones (0.4).
The Great Christmas Light Fight
Mondays, 8/7c, ABC
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: Blood and Oil (0.8) adjusted up to avoid a new low on finale night. Sunday Night Football had a 7.0 final, a lower-end rating this season but still up 0.3 from last week.
- With Once Upon a Time wrapped for the fall last week, ABC filled its timeslot with a special on the making of the 1930s animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (0.7). It pulled only about half of a typical OUaT rating, and that was of no help to the series finale of Blood and Oil (0.7) at 9/8c. But at 10/9c, Quantico (1.3) was able to go up a touch despite the depressed ratings earlier in the evening.
- Fox had the national overrun again, this time without a presidential address buffering it, but it still had pretty similar numbers to last week's finals from The Simpsons (2.4), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (1.7), Family Guy (1.7) and The Last Man on Earth (1.3).
- CBS wrapped up its Sunday slate for the fall with season average-ish numbers from Madam Secretary (1.3), The Good Wife (1.1) and CSI: Cyber (0.8).
- NBC looks a little below average in the Sunday Night Football prelims for New England/Houston (6.4/6.5/5.9), but perhaps up a bit from last week. More after finals!
These numbers are current through Thursday, December 10.
WHAT MATTERS:
-
The week's most interesting point probably belonged once again to Into the Badlands (1.06), which got its first look at life without The Walking Dead. Though it was down 57% from the previous airing after the TWD finale, 1.06 is still a really good same-day number by today's standards. If it can stay anywhere close to this in the last two episodes, it's gotta be back.
WHAT MATTERS:
- Many of the broadcast Friday offerings wrapped it up for the fall, as ABC had another stout showing from Last Man Standing (1.3) but struggled beyond that with a new low Dr. Ken (1.1), a low-tying Shark Tank (1.4) and 20/20 (0.9).
- CBS was also all original and toward the low end with The Amazing Race (1.0), Hawaii Five-0 (1.0) and Blue Bloods (1.1).
- Fox had a good night as MasterChef Junior (1.2) was on the upswing, back into a tie for the lead in the 8:00 hour. World's Funniest (0.7) was also up a notch.
- NBC stayed all fractional as Undateable (0.7) inched down, Grimm (0.9) inched up and Truth Be Told went out on yet another 0.6.
- The CW had a Hollywood Christmas Parade special (0.3/0.2).
Above based on preliminary adults 18-49 ratings unless otherwise noted. Full table forthcoming!
WHAT MATTERS:
- NBC didn't exactly find The Wiz Live! demographic numbers with its Dolly Parton TV movie The Coat of Many Colors, but it still averaged a 1.8 in the demo and was a total viewer smash with over 13 million. Its lead-in was a Michael Buble holiday special (1.2).
- A couple big four networks were back in the scripted original game after nobody was last week. CBS had nothing particularly unusual from The Big Bang Theory (3.8), Life in Pieces (1.9), 2 Broke Girls (1.6), Mom (1.5) and Elementary (1.0), while Fox was on the low end with two hours of Bones (0.9/1.0).
- ABC had Toy Story special Toy Story at 20: To Infinity and Beyond (0.9) leading into a rebroadcast of the original film (1.0).
- And the CW's The Originals (0.4) gave back last week's growth on fall finale night. The Vampire Diaries logged another 0.5.
WHAT MATTERS:
- As disappointing a year as it has been for Criminal Minds, maybe quite a lot of it can be attributed to the drama competition. On a night with no Empire and no SVU, Minds vaulted above its usual 1.5/1.6 level to a 1.9 last night, its best rating since the season premiere. Survivor (2.3) also had a big night, while Code Black (1.4) gave back a tenth of last week's surge.
- ABC rebounded only a bit, and only in the Empire-less 9:00 hour with Modern Family (2.6) and Black-ish (1.7). The Middle (2.0) and The Goldbergs (2.0) were even, and the 10/9c hour became horrifying as Nashville (0.8) hit a new low for the second straight week.
- NBC and Fox were in special mode, with Fox getting pretty good mileage out of Taraji and Terrence's White-Hot Holidays (1.5), a holiday music special hosted by the Empire leads. NBC averaged 0.9 for three hours of magic specials.
- The CW was back to earth after last week's crossover bump, with Arrow (1.0) and Supernatural (0.7) each just below season average levels.
WHAT MATTERS:
- NBC's Chicago Tuesday gained even more ground on its last night of 2015, as Chicago Med (2.1) and Chicago Fire (2.0) each picked up a tenth (and red-hot The Voice (2.8) gained another two at 8/7c). They won't get any help from The Voice for awhile now, but it seems increasingly certain that they'll be just fine without it.
- CBS saw a major decline from the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show (2.3), an alarming move for a show that has pretty much been around the mid-3's for most recent airings. It led out of NCIS (1.4) and NCIS: New Orleans (1.3) repeats.
- On ABC, Fresh Off the Boat (1.2) couldn't get any finals help and thus hit a new low 1.2 this week, between even The Muppets (1.1) and Agents of SHIELD (1.3).
- Fox's Scream Queens made a quiet exit with a two-hour finale at its typical 0.9.
- And The Flash (1.3) got a finals uptick to help it avoid tying a series low, though this was still a new season low. iZombie (0.5) was on the low end as well.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: ABC's The Great Christmas Light Fight adjusted down a tenth to 1.2, a rather disturbing 29% behind last year's surging premiere. (It's still up a bit in historical-adjusted from the 1.4 premiere two years ago.) The Great Holiday Baking Show went down two tenths to 0.9, putting it three tenths behind last week's premiere. Also, Telenovela got a tiny bit of mercy as the 10:30 edition adjusted up to 0.9.
- There's already a surprising amount of separation between NBC's upcoming Monday comedies, as Telenovela premiered very poorly in its own post-Voice tryout. It averaged a 1.4 at 10:00, six tenths behind the similar Superstore episode last week, then tanked to a disastrous 0.8 at 10:30 (just half of Superstore's 10:30 rating). It couldn't blame The Voice, which was consistent with last week's Superstore lead-in at 2.8.
- ABC premiered returning short-order holiday series The Great Christmas Light Fight (1.3), which took a step down from last year's 1.7 premiere but was close to the 1.4 series premiere two years ago. Alongside The Great Holiday Baking Show (1.1), it is pending a football preemption.
- On CBS, Supergirl (1.5) inched back down to tie its Thanksgiving week low, Scorpion (1.7) was flat and NCIS: Los Angeles (1.4) had a season high with no drama competition.
- Fox had special "TV's Funniest Animated Stars" (0.6) and CW had superhero repeats (0.3/0.3).
These numbers are current through Thursday, December 3.
WHAT MATTERS:
-
The Walking Dead finished out the first half of season six with a 6.65 on November 22 and a 7.02 finale on November 29. Dead never had a positive year-to-year point in this half-season, but beyond the first couple weeks it was very healthy. The finale was just 7% below last fall.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: The presidential address delay caused Once Upon a Time to adjust down (tying last week's low) and Quantico to adjust up (avoiding a new low). The Simpsons (2.3) adjusted down a whooping 0.7 and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (1.7) by 0.3 after accounting for the delays.
- The broadcast scripted offerings are heavily subject to adjustment due to a 15-minute primetime interruption for a presidential address at 8:00 ET/7:00 CT. This means that the preliminary result for Once Upon a Time (1.4) includes 15 minutes of the address on the East Coast, Blood and Oil (0.9) 15 minutes of Once, and Quantico (1.1) 15 minutes of Blood & Oil. It seems possible this could hurt B&O in the finals and maybe help Quantico, but we'll see.
- And for Fox's delayed The Simpsons (3.0), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2.0), Family Guy (1.7) and The Last Man on Earth (1.4), it probably means downward adjustments are more likely.
- CBS and NBC were able to air their events on time by shortening 60 Minutes (1.2/1.3) and the NFL pregame show, respectively. CBS averaged 0.8 for a two-hour Frank Sinatra special, while NBC dominated as usual with Sunday Night Football.
WHAT MATTERS:
- Most shows were back into original mode for the first Friday in December, and most were pretty normal. That meant another dominant night for ABC with Last Man Standing (1.3), Dr. Ken (1.2), Shark Tank (1.6) and 20/20 (1.2).
- The most discouraging result on the networks came from NBC's Grimm (0.8), which inched down to another new low and continues to struggle leading out of comedies Undateable (0.8) and Truth Be Told (0.6).
- Competing 8/7c reality series The Amazing Race (1.1) and MasterChef Junior (1.0) each had small rallies from last week's Black Friday originals, keeping Race ahead and Junior well shy of its promising early-season results. CBS also offered up another repeat night from its drama block with Hawaii Five-0 (0.8) and Blue Bloods (0.8).
- The show has been summer/Friday filler for so long that it is easy to forget how big America's Next Top Model was in the CW's early years. But it wrapped up its 22-cycle run with very little fanfare, only posting its typical 0.3. Reign was also back at 0.3 after taking last week off.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: The Wiz Live! adjusted up to 3.4, and Thursday Night Football to 5.3. Bringing back TNF for a one-off after three NFL Network-only weeks kept more of the viewers on NFLN; it averaged a 1.46 there, which was the third-highest NFLN rating of the eight simulcasts, even though the 5.3 combined rating was only sixth-highest.
- NBC continued its December live musical tradition into a third season with The Wiz Live!, which averaged a preliminary 11.1 million viewers and 3.3 demo rating from 8:00 to 11:00. This marks an impressive and much-welcome reinvigoration of the tradition after last year's Peter Pan Live! disappointed at 2.4, though it still fell well shy of The Sound of Music Live! (4.6) from two years ago. It's likely this will adjust up slightly since the show actually ended at around 10:45 ET and cut to local programming early. (Hourly breakdowns were 3.4/3.4/3.0.)
- There was not a single original entertainment series on the big four on this night, as ABC plowed through its TGIT hiatus with disappointing specials Toy Story that Time Forgot (0.9), Shrek the Halls (1.0) and CMA Country Christmas (1.0/0.9). The CMA special, usually a Monday fixture, went well below its usual mid-1's delivery. CBS had a one-off return to Thursday Night Football (averaging a prelim 3.5; as usual, the final will combine with the NFL Network simulcast). And Fox went with Bones repeats (0.5/0.6).
- The CW was the only network in original series mode as its vampire series finally got a break from TGIT. It was of no help to The Vampire Diaries (0.5), but The Originals (0.5) did a little better than usual.
The Great Holiday Baking Show
Mondays, 10/9c, ABC
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: Criminal Minds (1.6), Rosewood (1.5), Empire (4.5) and Arrow (1.4) all went up. That meant Arrow tied its series high from this night a year ago (and actually tied the Tuesday episode of The Flash as well). The Middle (2.0) and Black-ish (1.6) adjusted down.
- On fall finale night for Fox's Wednesday dramas, the shows bounced back nicely from their depressed Thanksgiving Eve ratings. Empire (4.4) made it all the way back to its rating from two weeks ago, while Rosewood (1.4) was up two tenths.
- The CW aired the back half of its The Flash/Arrow crossover, boosting Arrow (1.3) to a new season high (and a tenth below the crossover result on this night last year). Supernatural (0.9) also had a big night, tying the premiere's season high.
- NBC aired holiday specials Christmas in Rockefeller Center (1.5), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1.5) and Saturday Night Live Christmas (1.4). ABC's comedies have historically had huge stinkers against these NBC specials, but the results were a bit more mixed on this night. The Middle (2.1) held up particularly great at 8/7c, and along with The Goldbergs (2.0) the 8:00 hour was well above its 1.6/1.7 on this night last year. However, Modern Family (2.4), Black-ish (1.7) and Nashville (0.9) were all into new season low territory.
- On CBS, Survivor (2.1) bounced back to normal after last week's Thanksgiving Eve low, while Criminal Minds (1.5) stayed disappointing. But the momentum now seems very real for Code Black (1.5), which had another surge to tie its series high. It's not yet clear how much of this is about avoiding drama competition from Chicago PD, but we won't know till 2016; it will get another break from PD for next week's fall finale.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: Fresh Off the Boat (1.3) adjusted up to avoid a new low, while Rudolph (2.4) took a tick away from Limitless (1.0).
- It was another triumphant night for NBC's new Tuesday lineup, dominating each hour as The Voice (2.6), Chicago Med (2.0) and Chicago Fire (1.9) were all on the upswing (Voice by a dramatic 0.5 points). Chicago Med was just two tenths shy of its series premiere rating from two weeks ago, and it blew away its previous series high in total viewers as the older-skewing competition (NCIS: New Orleans and Dancing with the Stars) was out of the picture this week.
- There was no such post-Thanksgiving bounce for the increasingly problematic ABC and Fox lineups; ABC's comedies The Muppets (1.1) and Fresh Off the Boat (1.2) hit new lows again while Agents of SHIELD (1.3) maintained its low from the last two weeks. On Fox, only Scream Queens (0.9) got back a tenth, and Grandfathered (0.9) and The Grinder (0.7) couldn't rally.
- CBS sat out its original dramas in favor of holiday classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (2.3), which took a noticeable dip from last year's 2.8 in early December. A repeat of Limitless (1.1) got a tryout at 9/8c while a repeat of NCIS: New Orleans (0.9) went to 10/9c.
- And the CW had another typical night from The Flash (1.4) and iZombie (0.6); of greater intrigue will be how much the crossover helps Arrow tonight.
WHAT MATTERS:
- FINALS UPDATE: Finals adjustments took The Voice down to a 2.8, still up two tenths from last week (and tied with the year-ago evening), while Superstore had a passable 2.0 at 10:00 and 1.6 at 10:30. The 1.8 average is below any Blindspot result in this slot, but it is very comparable to NBC's last post-Voice sitcom block launch (a 1.9/1.6 for Undateable and One Big Happy in March). Elsewhere,
- NBC used The Voice (2.8/3.1) to lead into two preview episodes of upcoming winter sitcom Superstore (2.2/1.9). These are going to adjust down in finals due to NBC Monday Night Football pre-emptions, and obviously the final verdict will hinge on how much. Looks OK from the prelims, but probably the most meaningful takeaway is that it didn't seem to have a particularly bad drop in the second half.
- ABC began its Monday stretch between Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor by getting fairly DWTS-esque demo numbers out of two hours of Peanuts programming: a 50th anniversary special at 8/7c (1.8) and the holiday classic A Charlie Brown Christmas (2.0). That led into a modest start for holiday filler The Great Holiday Baking Show (1.2), which will be joined by returning The Great Christmas Light Fight starting next week.
- The scripted offerings were all on the rebound from soft pre-Thanksgiving numbers, as Supergirl (1.6) got back a tenth (but stayed behind every result other than last week). Its CBS companions Scorpion (1.1) and NCIS: Los Angeles (1.1) were in repeats.
- Fox surged a bit more as Gotham (1.6) was all the way back to its high end, allowing it to tie Supergirl in the demo for the first time. The last episode of Minority Report (0.7) was also up two tenths.
- At least preliminarily, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is eyeing a rise to her first 0.4 for the CW, even as usual companion Jane the Virgin sat out for a repeat of last week's holiday commercials special (0.2). It will be interesting to see if these Monday shows can overachieve during the DWTS/Voice hiatuses as Jane did last year.
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