The Breakdown: NBC Wednesday in 2016-17 (Blindspot, Law and Order: SVU, Chicago PD)

It's time for a journey through the NBC Wednesday schedule in 2016-17...


fall

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2015-16	The Mysteries of Laura		The Mysteries of Laura	Law and Order: SVU		Law and Order: SVU	Chicago PD		Chicago PD	97
	2015-16	76		76	113		113	103			103	97
2016-17	Blindspot		Blindspot	Law and Order: SVU		Law and Order: SVU	Chicago PD		Chicago PD	110 (+13%)
	2016-17	96 (+26%)		95.9220519799807	122 (+8%)		122 (+8%)	111 (+8%)			111 (+8%)	109.868165920332
VsAvg	+29%		0.289770474949087	+23%		0.232108077746605	+11%		0.113616940073432	+20%
Rank	1/16		1/16	2/16		2/16	5/16		5/16	4/16

After its struggles late in season one, Blindspot wasn't supposed to make much of a splash in its move to Wednesday. But it showed some real spunk in the early weeks, including a 1.3 for its first three airings at 8/7c. The low-1's made for about the same raw numbers or a little better compared with last year's The Mysteries of Laura. After very positive seasons in 2015-16, stalwarts Law and Order: SVU and Chicago PD continued the Plus growth into the fall.

winter

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2015-16	The Mysteries of Laura		The Mysteries of Laura	Law and Order: SVU		Law and Order: SVU	Chicago PD		Chicago PD	105
	2015-16	76		76	120		120	118			118	105
2016-17	Blindspot		Blindspot	Law and Order: SVU		Law and Order: SVU	Chicago PD		Chicago PD	102 (-2%)
	2016-17	76 (0%)		76.1934029911903	117 (-3%)		117 (-3%)	114 (-3%)			114 (-3%)	102.498268309577
VsAvg	+13%		0.13083083808198	+36%		0.362818977784761	+9%		0.0929208304241277	+19%
Rank	4/16		4/16	3/16		3/16	5/16		5/16	4/16

But the winter was a much different experience for Blindspot. It opened with a 1.1 on the highest-viewed January Wednesday, which was about in line with its low-end fall results, but fell the next two weeks and then dipped to a rather bad 0.8 by mid-February. SVU and PD couldn't continue the growth forever, and their relatively non-existent winter bounces put them behind the pace from last season.

spring

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2015-16	Heartbeat		Heartbeat	Law and Order: SVU		Law and Order: SVU	Chicago PD		Chicago PD	81
	2015-16	53		53	95		95	96			96	81
2016-17	Blindspot		Blindspot	Law and Order: SVU		Law and Order: SVU	Chicago PD		Chicago PD	90 (+10%)
	2016-17	72 (+37%)		72.3059844712316	95 (+0%)		95 (+0%)	101 (+6%)			101 (+6%)	89.6697871937138
VsAvg	+20%		0.195700650765619	+25%		0.25/1685128883387	+1%		0.00537678632486605	+13%
Rank	3/16		3/16	3/16		3/16	5/16		5/16	5/16

The Wednesday story took yet another turn in the spring, as Blindspot actually came back from its February lows and pulled off a string of 0.9's even amidst the Daylight Saving viewing depression. That made it a far better lead-in than the procedurals got a year ago, so their trends improved as well in the final months.

Rating the Ratings

Name	Lo	Avg	Hi	y2y	Plus	Label	Plusy2y	Results
Blindspot	0.8	1.03	1.5	-43%	84	marginal	-33%	detail
Law and Order: SVU*	1.0	1.34	1.8	-17%	109	solid	-1%	detail
Chicago PD*	1.2	1.37	1.9	-11%	112	solid	+5%	detail

Blindspot: Tough one to grade. First of all, there's the fact that most of its real decline happened across the hiatus from last season. Then there's the timeslot move, from Monday 10/9c to Wednesday 8/7c. Despite the fact that it had a Voice lead-in, it also became less of a delayed viewing gainer in season two, so I don't think it's as much of a downgrade as it appears. And then there's the roller coaster that was its season two performance. Overall, True Plus says it declined around 20%, and even if you compare 2016-17 with just the weaker spring 2016 run, it was still about 5% weaker. That's the number I'm going with here. Grade: C+.

Law and Order: SVU: Its Plus growth trend finally came to an end, and in a season when its lead-in improved noticeably. Maybe it was actually more compatible with Laura than Blindspot? Grade: B-.

Chicago PD: However, PD remained on the upswing, marking a third straight season of Plus growth. I'm not a viewer but from what I've heard about it, the loss of Sophia Bush is gonna be a real obstacle next season... Grade: B+.

The names in this last table link to the shows' War of 18-49 pages. Links with an asterisk(*) have been updated with the new info. Updates to younger shows will come later in the summer.

Here's the now updated Schedules Plus for NBC Wednesday.