FINALS UPDATE: Lucifer (0.9) adjusted up while
Dancing with the Stars (1.4) and
The Good Doctor (1.9) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- Life after The Big Bang Theory began for CBS Monday as Kevin Can Wait (1.2) moved to the lead-off role and Superior Donuts (0.8) opened season two at 9/8c. Though Kevin made a strong transition to the lead-off slot, it was a miserable night for all the other comedies. 9JKL tumbled all the way to a 0.8, Superior Donuts opened on a new series low, and Me, Myself and I crashed to 0.7 after three weeks at 0.9.
- It was also a rough night on NBC, with The Voice (1.9) down three tenths and The Brave (0.8) down two. But NBC's loss was ABC's gain, as Dancing with the Stars (1.4) and The Good Doctor (1.9) both gained a tenth from last week (and were very close to gaining two tenths, with respective 1.45/1.94 finals).
- Fox Monday mimicked Fox Thursday and saw some encouraging upticks in the middle of the World Series coverage, with Lucifer (0.9) ekeing out an upward adjustment in finals and The Gifted (1.1) rebounding after three straight weeks of declines.
FINALS UPDATE: Sunday Night Football (4.8) adjusted up while
60 Minutes (1.2),
Wisdom of the Crowd (0.7),
Football Night in America p2 (1.4),
Football Night in America p3 (2.7),
The OT (4.3) and
World Series (5.3) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- Sunday night marked the only collision between the World Series (5.4/5.5/5.7) and the NFL. NBC's Sunday Night Football (4.3/4.5/4.0) appears headed for a season low, while the World Series looks to have exploded ahead of the first four games which had preliminary ratings in the 2.9 to 3.9 range. The baseball game had an assist from Fox's late afternoon NFL window, but was also a thriller game that stretched deep into late night Sunday.
- With Ten Days in the Valley pulled earlier this week, the only scripted series to go up against all of this were CBS' Sunday dramas Wisdom of the Crowd (0.8), NCIS: Los Angeles (0.8) and Madam Secretary (0.6). The prelims don't look pretty, and these numbers will be uncertain until finals because they started about a half hour late in a bunch of major markets. 60 Minutes averaged a preliminary 1.5 at 7:00 but that includes a lot of local football.
- Meanwhile, ABC had a second run of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1.0) leading into two original hours of Shark Tank (0.9/0.9). Tank would be down a tenth from last week, but managed to more than double last week's Ten Days in the Valley rating at 10/9c.
FINALS UPDATE: MacGyver (0.9),
World Series (3.9) and
Jane the Virgin (0.3) adjusted up.
WHAT MATTERS:- On the fifth Friday of the season, NBC's Blindspot (0.7) finally showed up in the 8:00 hour. It was a new series low for Blindspot, and tied Grimm's lowest rating in the hour last season. But since it was a big improvement on Law and Order True Crime repeats, it helped bump Dateline (0.8/0.9) back up.
- Fox dominated with Game 3 of the World Series (3.3/3.5/3.3), which fell squarely in the middle of the 3.0 and 3.9 prelims from the first two games.
- On CBS, Hawaii Five-0 had the night off as a Michael Jackson Halloween special (1.1) aired to nice ratings at 8/7c. MacGyver (0.8) was bumped to 9/8c and led into Blue Bloods (0.9), and both shows matched last week.
- And ABC's Inhumans (0.5) saw a one-tenth rebound after last week's brutal drop, but Once Upon a Time (0.5) did not.
FINALS UPDATE: Thursday Night Football (3.4) adjusted up while
Thursday Night Football Pregame (1.4) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:
- On Fox's World Series off day, The Orville (1.2) had a particularly impressive showing, coming back from a repeat last week and rising to its highest rating since the move to Thursday. Gotham was even at 0.9.
- Grey's Anatomy (1.8) was also back after a week off, but its ratings went in the other direction with a three-tenth drop. Its lead-outs Scandal (1.1) and How to Get Away with Murder (0.9) saw no rebound despite the return of their lead-in.
- With their fall finales looming next week, NBC had a strong night as Superstore (1.2), Will and Grace (1.8), Great News (1.0) and Chicago Fire (1.2) were all on the uptick.
FINALS UPDATE: World Series (4.2) adjusted up while
Designated Survivor (0.7) and
The Blacklist (0.8) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- After breezing through Tuesday's game in about two and a half hours, the Dodgers and Astros went roughly four and a half hours in an epic Game 2 of the World Series on Wednesday. So unlike Game 1, last night the World Series was a big part of the mix for primetime on the West Coast. The preliminary 3.9 for Game 2 was actually as high as the final for Game 1, but there may not be as much of an adjustment since there's a lot of West Coast viewing included this time.
- The competitors had a mix of steadiness and one-tenth drops. CBS' SEAL Team was back at a preliminary 1.0 after adjusting up from 1.0 to 1.1 last week, and Survivor (1.7) was also down a notch in the prelims. Criminal Minds stayed at 1.0.
- On ABC, it was frequent adjuster The Goldbergs (1.4) and American Housewife (1.3) on the downtick, while everything else was even. And NBC's The Blacklist (0.9), Law and Order: SVU (1.2) and Chicago PD (1.1) were all steady.
- And the CW's Riverdale got a win as it managed to hang onto 0.6 in week three. But Dynasty could not eke out a third 0.3, and was down to 0.2 for the first time.
FINALS UPDATE: Fresh Off the Boat (1.1),
Kevin (Probably) Saves the World (0.7),
This Is Us (2.8) and
World Series (3.9) adjusted up while
Law and Order True Crime (1.0) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- The World Series opened on Fox with a low-3 prelim from 8:00 to 10:30. It shouldn't come as much surprise that this is massively down from last year (Game 1 had a 5.4 prelim/5.6 final), which was a true banner year for baseball, but it may have trouble even getting to the low end of Game 1 ratings historically. (My lowest on record was a 3.4 in 2014, then a 3.6 in 2006 and 2012.) Worth noting we may see these games adjust up more because there's a West Coast team involved.
- The good news in a lower-rated World Series is it probably won't have too much impact on the competition. But a notable exception on opening night may have been ABC's middling drama Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, which took a crucial crash to 0.6 in week four after pulling off a steady 0.8 last week. The ABC comedies all matched last week with the exception of Fresh Off the Boat (1.0), which was down a tick.
- Like on Monday, NBC was down a couple tenths or so with The Voice (1.9), and This Is Us (2.7) followed it downward. At 10/9c, Law and Order True Crime will hope to hold onto its preliminary 1.1 this time after adjusting down last week.
- CBS' dramas were all even, and the CW (which has a history of getting dinged by the Series) actually got an uptick from The Flash (1.0) and a steady Legends of Tomorrow (0.5).
These numbers are current through Monday, October 23.
WHAT MATTERS:
- The Walking Dead (5.03) returned for what looks like another year as the biggest entertainment program on TV. It'll take a few weeks to really get a gauge on how fast this show is bleeding, because it was never going to to live up to the show's most impressive performance ever, the 8.36 at the start of last fall. While it was actually pretty close to the Plus of its 2014 and 2015 season premieres, it was also just the second Dead premiere to come in lower than the previous season finale.
FINALS UPDATE: The Big Bang Theory (2.8) and
The Voice (2.2) adjusted up while
The Good Doctor (1.8) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- In its final Monday episode before moving to Thursday next week, The Big Bang Theory (2.7) was even to very slightly down, while its lead-outs 9JKL (1.4) and Kevin Can Wait (1.2) rebounded a bit as they prepare to handle the 8:00 hour on their own next week. Me, Myself and I (0.9) and Scorpion (0.8) both matched last week.
- On ABC, The Good Doctor (1.9) will need a finals assist to extend its 2.0 streak to five weeks, while its lead-in Dancing with the Stars (1.3) gave back last week's Disney bump. The network was preempted in Washington, DC for Monday Night Football.
- Fox led off a World Series-heavy week with its regular Monday dramas Lucifer (0.8) and The Gifted (1.0), which were both down a tenth.
- NBC's The Brave was steady at 1.0 despite a decline from its The Voice (2.2/2.1) lead-in, while the CW's Supergirl (0.5) and Valor (0.2) were both even in week three.
FINALS UPDATE: Shark Tank (1.0),
NCIS: Los Angeles (1.1) and
Sunday Night Football (6.5) adjusted up while
Madam Secretary (0.8) and
The Mick (R)
(1.1) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- CBS had the national NFL overrun for the second straight week, and this time its lineup started just a few minutes after 7:30, so everything might be subject to slight downward adjustments. From the prelims we have so far, it looks like a pretty strong night for 60 Minutes (2.8/2.1), an even Wisdom of the Crowd (1.1), slightly down NCIS: Los Angeles (1.0), while Madam Secretary's 10:30 half-hour was actually up to 0.9.
- Meanwhile, Fox appears to have gotten some help from its local market NFL overruns, with a 1.3 in the 7:00 half-hour (which was a repeat of The Mick for most markets), while Bob's Burgers (1.3), The Simpsons (1.6) and Ghosted (1.1) would all be up from last week if they hold. The 9:00 hour of Family Guy (1.2) and The Last Man on Earth (0.8) was even.
- ABC had a dip from Shark Tank (0.9), fractional for the first time all season, but everything else matched last week. And NBC's Sunday Night Football featured a Super Bowl rematch between the Patriots and Falcons. The mid-to-high-5 prelim suggests it should finish over a 6 after finals, which would be SNF's best number in at least a month.
Here's a quick catch-up on War of 18-49 pages for cable shows that
have already existing War pages. Click the names in each one
of these
tables to see the now-updated War of 18-49 page. The last version of this was
11 months ago, so we're covering seasons that have concluded since then. (I'm gonna try to start doing these more frequently so that these pages don't go many months without updates.) See also last week's
summer broadcast update.
WHAT MATTERS:- It was a devastating Friday night for ABC's genre dramas, as Once Upon a Time (0.5) and Inhumans (0.4) both tanked by two tenths.
- The CBS dramas were much steadier, with MacGyver (0.8), Hawaii Five-0 (1.0) and Blue Bloods (0.9) all matching last week. Fox was also even with Hell's Kitchen (0.8) and The Exorcist (0.4), but NBC's Dateline (0.7) had a rough night, dropping two tenths below all of its first three results of the season.
- And on the CW, Jane the Virgin (0.2) wasn't able to hold onto 0.3 for a second week on Friday. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend stayed at 0.2.
FINALS UPDATE: Thursday Night Football (4.5),
Gotham (0.9) and
Supernatural (0.7) adjusted up while
Thursday Night Football Pregame (1.5) and
Arrow (0.5) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- Grey's Anatomy had the night off on the last Thursday before November sweeps, and Halloween specials It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1.4) and Toy Story of TERROR! (1.1) filled in at a long way below their respective 2.2/2.0 ratings on a Wednesday a year ago. With no Grey's lead-in, both Scandal (1.1) and How to Get Away with Murder (0.9) were down a tenth.
- On NBC, it was a particularly brutal evening for 9:30 comedy Great News (0.8), which fell by two tenths and went back to retaining less than half of its lead-in from Will and Grace (1.7). Earlier in the night, Superstore (1.1) was even and The Good Place (1.1) down a tenth, while Chicago Fire hung at 1.1 at 10/9c despite the weaker lead-in.
- Fox's The Orville went into repeat mode (0.6) for a week, but Gotham (0.8) stayed original and was down a notch.
- And week two for the Supernatural (0.6) / Arrow (0.6) reunion saw the former down a tenth, but Arrow matched last week's premiere.
FINALS UPDATE: The Goldbergs (1.5),
Survivor (1.8) and
SEAL Team (1.1) adjusted up while
Criminal Minds (1.0) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- Several of the shows that showed promising steadiness in week three followed it up with big dips in week four. That included CBS' newbie SEAL Team (1.0), which fell by two tenths the week after scoring a full season order. It looked like a particularly weak link in the lineup since Survivor (1.7) and Criminal Minds (1.1) were both even. The Fox pair of Empire (1.8) and Star (1.3) was also down two tenths apiece.
- On the CW, Riverdale (0.6) was down two tenths from last week's explosive opening, but that still kept it ahead of every raw number from season one. Dynasty managed to hang onto a preliminary 0.3 in the demo, but a big dip in total viewers (from 1.3 million last week to under a million this time) suggests it might be a much weaker 0.3.
- On ABC, comedy anchors The Goldbergs (1.4) and Modern Family (1.7) both inched down from last week's finals, while Speechless (1.1) and American Housewife (1.4) were even. At 10/9c, Designated Survivor fell to its first 0.8.
- And NBC saw Law and Order: SVU (1.2) even, surrounded by preliminary downticks from The Blacklist (0.9) and Chicago PD (1.1).
FINALS UPDATE: NCIS (1.4),
The Voice (2.2) and
This Is Us (2.9) adjusted up while
Black-ish (1.1) and
Law and Order True Crime (1.0) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- The ABC comedy lineup mostly continued moving downward in its third week, with a particularly rough point for 9:30 newbie The Mayor (0.8) as it shed two more tenths. Anchors The Middle (1.3) and Black-ish (1.2) were down a tenth in the prelims, while Fresh Off the Boat (1.1) stabilized after taking the biggest drop last week. At 10/9c, drama Kevin (Probably) Saves the World kept itself in contention by hanging at 0.8 in week three, this time matching its Mayor lead-in.
- On NBC, the slippage stopped in week four for This Is Us (2.8), and with a 2.9 -> 2.8 breakdown it looks likely to be up week-to-week in the finals. That was a good point since its lead-in The Voice (2.1) was down at least two tenths from last week. Law and Order True Crime remained at 1.1 at 10/9c.
- CBS saw another drop from NCIS (1.3), but its lead-outs Bull (1.2) and NCIS: New Orleans (1.1) stayed surprisingly close by.
- Fox's Brooklyn Nine-Nine (0.6) gave back last week's uptick, while Lethal Weapon (0.9) also inched down. The Mick was even at 0.8.
- And on the CW, both The Flash (0.9) and Legends of Tomorrow (0.5) were down from last week's premieres.
FINALS UPDATE: The Big Bang Theory (2.8),
Me, Myself and I (0.9),
The Voice (2.4) and
Lucifer (0.9) adjusted up while
Dancing with the Stars (1.4),
The Good Doctor (2.0) and
9JKL (1.2) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:
- Despite preemptions in both Monday Night Football markets, ABC had the healthiest night as Dancing with the Stars (1.4) was up a tick on Disney Night and The Good Doctor pulled off a fourth consecutive 2.0 or better in the 10:00 hour.
- It was another tough night in CBS comedy land as 9JKL (after adjusting down to 1.2 in finals) and Kevin Can Wait (1.1) both shed another two tenths. Me Myself and I (0.9) eked out a finals uptick, matching last week.
- Elsewhere, the 8:00 veterans The Voice (2.4), Lucifer (0.9) and Supergirl (0.5) matched last week while their newbie lead-outs The Brave (1.0), The Gifted (1.1) and Valor (0.2) were down a tenth.
FINALS UPDATE: America's Funniest Home Videos (0.9),
60 Minutes (2.3) and
Sunday Night Football (5.6) adjusted up while
Wisdom of the Crowd (1.1),
Madam Secretary (0.7),
Football Night in America p2 (2.3),
Football Night in America p3 (3.0) and
Ghosted (R)
(0.7) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- With a late afternoon NFL lead-in, the CBS lineup started right at 7:30 on the East Coast just like during premiere week. (In fact, there were over 10 minutes of postgame/commercials separating the end of the NFL and 60 Minutes.) After 60 Minutes (2.2), Wisdom of the Crowd (1.2) and NCIS: Los Angeles (1.1/1.0) were both just a little behind what they did with NFL help two weeks ago, while Madam Secretary (0.8) had its first 10:30 episode.
- Meanwhile, Fox didn't have national NFL help this week. Animated comedies The Simpsons (1.3), Family Guy (1.2) and Bob's Burgers (1.1) along with The Last Man on Earth (0.8) were all reasonably close to what they did on Premiere Sunday, but Ghosted (1.0) was down several notches at 8:30.
- It was mostly status quo on ABC, which meant more horrible numbers from The Toy Box (0.4) and Ten Days in the Valley (0.4), surrounding America's Funniest Home Videos (down a tenth to 0.8) and Shark Tank (1.1). NBC's Sunday Night Football was in the general vicinity of 5.0 in the prelims, as it has been pretty consistently since the start of the regular season.
Here's a quick catch-up on War of 18-49 pages for the summer broadcast shows that have
already existing War pages. Another edition of this for cable is coming
soon! Click the names in each one of these tables to see the now-updated
War of 18-49 page.
WHAT MATTERS:- The CW's premiere week ended with dramedies Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (0.2) and Jane the Virgin (0.3) reuniting on Friday, after occupying Monday together two years ago. The 0.2 is a familiar number for Crazy, which had it for all 13 episodes last year, while Jane was preliminarily able to hold onto 0.3 in a Friday move after actually hitting 0.2 a few times on Monday last spring.
- On ABC, Once Upon a Time held onto last week's 0.7 premiere, but Inhumans (0.6) and 20/20 (0.6) were both down a tenth.
- CBS' Hawaii Five-0 (1.0) and Blue Bloods (0.9) were both down a notch in the prelims, leading out of another 0.8 from MacGyver.
- And Fox's Hell's Kitchen (0.8) will hope for a third straight uptick in finals, while The Exorcist (0.4) couldn't even muster up a 0.5 in the prelims this time. NBC's Dateline (0.8/0.9) was down a tenth from last week in both hours with a lower lead-in from a repeat of Law and Order True Crime (0.4).
FINALS UPDATE: Grey's Anatomy (2.1),
Thursday Night Football (4.6),
Will and Grace (1.8) and
Gotham (0.9) adjusted up while
Thursday Night Football Pregame (1.8) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:
- On night four of the CW premiere week, Arrow (0.6) made its first ever timeslot move and now airs out of Supernatural (0.7). It looks like a productive pairing so far, as both of the veterans were down just a tenth from last year's premieres.
- The second week of the reunited TGIT triumvirate saw Grey's Anatomy (2.1) even and How to Get Away with Murder (1.0) on the rebound, but Scandal (1.2) dropped two tenths from last week's premiere.
- NBC had a little slippage from hourly anchors Superstore (1.1), Will and Grace (1.8) and Chicago Fire (0.1), but the bottom-of-the-hour comedies The Good Place (1.2) and Great News (1.0) were both even.
- And Fox had another nice night from The Orville (1.0), bouncing back by a tenth after last week's big drop. A finals adjustment helped Gotham (0.9) to match last week.
Happy Friday. In this post, I will have a quick word on the CW's newbie premieres and a much longer, wonkier word about some things that are going on here with un-rounded numbers this fall.
FINALS UPDATE: The Goldbergs (1.5),
Survivor (1.7),
The Blacklist (1.0) and
Empire (2.0) adjusted up while
Dynasty (0.3) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- It was opening night for the CW's reboot of Dynasty, but in the end it was the returnee Riverdale (0.8) that actually stole the show. The sophomore opened on a new series high by a mile, after premiering at 0.5 and hitting a bunch of 0.3's late last season. Keeping in mind that female-skewers of the CW past like Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill rarely went above a 60 Plus, the network has to be elated with how this went down at least for one night.
- But considering the Riverdale heat, it was a pretty flat start for Dynasty (0.4). Since it comes from the lesser CBS studio, it is too early to discount it, but a 0.4 -> 0.3 breakdown means it is not even on the upper side of 0.4.
- At least in the prelims, it was a bit of a shaky night for ABC in the 8/7c hour as The Goldbergs (1.4) and Speechless (1.1) lost two tenths again. But things were steadier from there, with Modern Family (1.8) down one tenth and American Housewife (1.4) and Designated Survivor (0.9) both even.
- CBS and Fox both saw their lineups stabilize in week three, which was welcome news for the newbie SEAL Team (1.2) between Survivor (1.6) and Criminal Minds (1.1). Empire (1.9) led the night and matched last week, while Star (1.5) remained a big win for Fox as it was actually up a tenth (though it was very close to a 1.5 last week).
- And NBC had one-tenth slippage from The Blacklist (0.9) and Law and Order: SVU (1.2), but Chicago PD (1.2) was even.
FINALS UPDATE: Bull (1.3),
The Voice (2.4),
Lethal Weapon (1.0),
The Mick (0.8) and
The Flash (1.1) adjusted up while
NCIS: New Orleans (1.0) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- In week two for ABC Tuesday, The Middle (1.4), Black-ish (1.3), The Mayor (1.0) and Kevin (Probably) Saves the World (0.8) were all down two tenths from last week's premieres. Fresh Off the Boat (1.1), after barely ekeing out a 1.4 in finals last week, was down three. Those are not huge week two drops for newbies Mayor and Kevin, but not exactly promising either since they were both pretty mediocre to begin with.
- Night two of the CW's fall rollout saw the season premiere of The Flash (1.0), down three tenths year-to-year, while Legends of Tomorrow (0.6) continued to do its thing at 9/8c, matching last year's Thursday premiere.
- It was a rough night on Fox, where Lethal Weapon (0.9) and The Mick (0.7) both shed two tenths after holding up decently last week. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (0.7) tried to keep itself in the conversation by matching Mick this week.
- NBC led the way again with steady The Voice (2.3) and Law and Order: True Crime (1.1) sandwiching another 10%ish drop from This Is Us (2.8).
- And the CBS lineup stabilized this week, with NCIS (1.4) and Bull (1.2) both even while NCIS: New Orleans (1.1) upticked into a tie for the preliminary lead at 10/9c.
FINALS UPDATE: The Good Doctor (2.0) and
The Big Bang Theory (2.9) adjusted up while
9JKL (1.4),
Kevin Can Wait (1.2),
Me, Myself and I (0.9),
Scorpion (0.8) and
The Brave (1.1) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:
- It was a soft start to the CW's new season, as Supergirl (0.5) was only able to tie its low point from last spring, and down by more than half from its CW premiere from a year ago. And there was little interest in its new lead-out Valor (0.3), which looked no better than a typical Jane the Virgin episode on its series premiere night.
- On Fox, it was a normal to slightly high week two drop for The Gifted (1.2). The good news is it really wasn't down any more than its Lucifer lead-in (0.9).
- ABC's The Good Doctor (1.9) came down from its stratospheric heights from the first two weeks, but was still massively ahead of its Dancing with the Stars (1.3) lead-in.
- And The Brave (1.2) had a steady (or maybe even slightly up) third week, leading out of a slightly declining The Voice (2.4/2.5).
- And the prelims make it look like a steady night for CBS, but CBS is pending a Monday Night Football preemption in Minneapolis.
FINALS UPDATE: Sunday Night Football (5.8) adjusted up while
NFL Overrun (6.6) and
The OT (4.4) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- The late afternoon NFL lead-in jumped over to Fox, where The Simpsons (2.2) got a big boost but still paled in comparison to a lot of its post-NFL ratings from last year. The lead-in juice was only able to keep Ghosted (1.4) even with last week's premiere, and same with Family Guy (1.4), but The Last Man on Earth (1.0) was actually up a tenth at 9:30.
- Meanwhile, it was week two for Wisdom of the Crowd (1.0) on CBS. It had a decent week two hold considering 60 Minutes (1.1) was a point weaker, but NCIS: Los Angeles (1.0) fell just as much at 9/8c. Madam Secretary (0.8) opened a new season at 10/9c in pretty reasonable fashion by this timeslot's standards. (Elementary's season high last season was 0.8.)
- And on ABC, America's Funniest Home Videos (0.9) joined the Sunday gang with a new regularly-scheduled slot at 8/7c. Despite a 0.4 lead-in from The Toy Box, Videos came within a tenth of last year's 7/6c premiere. Shark Tank had a 1.1 at 9/8c, while Ten Days in the Valley (0.4) was down a tenth from last week's already DOA start.
FINALS UPDATE: Hawaii Five-0 (1.1),
Dateline (1.0) and
Hell's Kitchen (0.9) adjusted up while
The Exorcist (0.4) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- Rebooted Once Upon a Time (0.7) took over its new role at the start of the ABC lineup in soft fashion, tying its lowest rating from last spring and down by almost half from last year's 1.3 Sunday premiere. Week two of Inhumans (0.7) settled into the 9/8c hour, dropping two tenths from last week's premiere.
- Week two of the CBS lineup saw MacGyver (0.8) and Hawaii Five-0 (1.0) hold even while Blue Bloods (1.0) was down a tenth. And The Exorcist held on at 0.5, leading out of a 0.8 from Hell's Kitchen (tying last week's prelim but needing an uptick to match last week's final).
FINALS UPDATE: Grey's Anatomy (2.1) and
Thursday Night Football (5.0) adjusted up while
Thursday Night Football Pregame (1.8) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- Premiere Thursday's big event Will and Grace (2.0) took a pretty sizable fall in week two, and its lead-out Great News (1.0) was down considerably as well. Perhaps the best news for NBC on Thursday has been the surrounding hours, especially 8/7c where Superstore (1.2) and The Good Place (1.2) took much smaller drops and were within a tenth of the same night last year. Chicago Fire (1.2) took a slightly harder fall at 10/9c but remained a historical-adjusted improvement on last year's Thursday dramas.
- On ABC, the original TGIT lineup was filled out as Scandal (1.4) opened its final season in the 9/8c hour. It came in toward the high end of what it was doing last spring, and 30% behind its January 2017 premiere. Grey's Anatomy (2.0) and How to Get Away with Murder (0.9) were both down in the low teens from last week's premieres.
- After an excellent hold last week, The Orville (0.9) couldn't keep it up in its second try against full competition, but Gotham stabilized at 0.9. And CBS' Thursday Night Football had about the same low-3's prelim as last week.
WHAT MATTERS:- Every series was on the downswing on the second Wednesday of the season, with some of the steepest drops coming from Fox's Empire (1.9) and Star (1.4). Empire will need an upward adjustment to avoid tying its low point from last season.
- CBS' SEAL Team (1.2) took a typical-ish drop for a week two newbie, and its surrounding programs Survivor (1.6) and Criminal Minds (1.1) each shed two tenths.
- ABC was down two tenths almost across the board with The Goldbergs (1.6), Modern Family (1.9), American Housewife (1.4) and Designated Survivor (0.9). Speechless (1.3) lost just one.
- NBC had pretty good holds relatively speaking, with The Blacklist (1.0) and Law and Order: SVU (1.3) and Chicago PD (1.2) all losing just a tenth.
FINALS UPDATE: Fresh Off the Boat (1.4) and
The Voice (2.3) adjusted up while
Law and Order True Crime (1.1) and
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (0.6) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- The ABC Tuesday lineup came on the scene a week late, with the final season of The Middle (1.6) leading the way in healthy fashion. After Fresh Off the Boat (1.3) at 8:30, Black-ish (1.5) moved to a new night and appears fairly anchor-worthy so far. However, there was pretty mediocre premiere retention for its new comedy lead-out The Mayor (1.2) at 9:30. At 10/9c, drama newbie Kevin (Probably) Saves the World (1.0) was not exactly dazzling, but certainly not as hopeless as Sunday's Ten Days in the Valley.
- On NBC, This Is Us (3.1) shed close to 20% from last week's series high premiere, but its lead-out Law and Order True Crime (1.2) was crushed even harder. Even The Voice (2.2) was down at least a few tenths for the network.
- CBS' NCIS (1.4) and Bull (1.2) were both down from last week's premieres, but NCIS: New Orleans (1.0) held steady. And on Fox, comedies The Mick (0.9) and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (0.7) both matched last week while Lethal Weapon (1.1) was down a notch.
FINALS UPDATE: The Big Bang Theory (3.2) and
The Voice (2.6) adjusted up while
Dancing with the Stars (1.4),
The Good Doctor (2.2),
Kevin Can Wait (1.3),
Scorpion (0.8),
The Brave (1.1) and
Legends of Tomorrow (R) (0.1) adjusted down. That means a full week two hold for the
Good Doc.
WHAT MATTERS:
- Week two began with a big dose of reality for a CBS Monday without Young Sheldon. The Big Bang Theory (3.0) still topped the night easily, even after losing about a quarter of last week's massive premiere audience. But newbie 9JKL barely held half of its lead-in, and the 9/8c comedies Kevin Can Wait (1.4) and Me, Myself and I (1.0) were each down more than a third from last week's premieres. Scorpion (0.9) was also down, though just a tenth.
- Fox brought its Monday lineup into the mix a week late, with newbie The Gifted (1.5) and its lead-in Lucifer (1.1) both starting pretty well.
- NBC's The Voice (2.5) and The Brave (1.2) were both just a hair behind last week's finals, but The Brave could be a downward adjustment candidate with a 1.3 -> 1.0 breakdown.
- And ABC had preemptions in both Monday Night Football markets, so stay tuned for finals, but we can say for sure that The Good Doctor (2.4) continued to build by huge quantities out of its Dancing with the Stars (1.6) lead-in.
This is a sortable list of series and ratings averages for the 2017-18 season, including every series that has a page in the
SpotVault or
War of 18-49. For the first time, it is also a
filterable list, meaning you can boil the table down to just one network, one category of programming or only new shows. (The striped formatting looks kinda ugly when filtered, but hopefully that is worth the added functionality.)
The Climate Center helps you keep up with some of this site's bigger-picture numbers on a week-to-week basis. Though most of the A18-49+ posts aren't updated until the summer, this can keep you posted on how things are developing while the season is ongoing.
The League Averages post covers the numbers that really make A18-49+ go: the 'league average,' which is an average of all ratings for original non-sports series on the big four networks during the traditional 35- or 36-week regular season. No sports, no reruns, no specials, no movies, no sustaining programming included!
The Climate Center helps you keep up with some of this site's bigger-picture numbers on a week-to-week basis. Though most of the A18-49+ posts aren't updated until the summer, this can keep you posted on how things are developing while the season is ongoing.
The Networks post looks at some of the metrics that best get at the networks' actual strength, most importantly breaking the networks' overall averages apart by category and mostly focusing on only the original non-sports series.
Ever wonder how
Renewology comes up with its percentages? A key part is the network-specific target averages; the R% is all about how close a show is to its target average. This Climate Center post will illustrate the steps that go into creating those targets, within each network and category.
The first table is simply a week-to-week list of all the network/category targets, so you can see easily how they've evolved over the course of the season. Then there's a more in-depth look at the components of the target on each network. At the bottom of these tables is a brief description of
what these numbers are. For more on
why they're actually used in Renewology, please see the
summary of the Renewology process. (The stuff about target averages is under
Step Three.)
FINALS UPDATE: 60 Minutes (2.1),
NCIS: Los Angeles (1.3) and
Sunday Night Football (5.8) adjusted up while
Ten Days in the Valley (0.5),
Wisdom of the Crowd (1.3) and
The Simpsons (R)
(0.5) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- CBS had the first late-afternoon NFL lead-in of the regular season, and its lineup started right at the scheduled 7:30 start time. After 60 Minutes (2.0) at 7:30 was new drama Wisdom of the Crowd (1.4/1.3). Usually NCIS: Los Angeles was in the 1.5-1.7 range on national NFL nights, but it also looks like this will be a weaker NFL/60 Minutes than usual. Meanwhile, NCIS: LA (1.2) made the move to an hour later, and a repeat of SEAL Team averaged a preliminary 0.8 in the 10:30 half-hour (but ran to 11:30 on the East Coast).
- The Fox comedies were back for another season on Sunday, with newbie Ghosted (1.4) looking promising at 8:30 between The Simpsons (1.4) and Family Guy (1.3). Bob's Burgers (1.3) opened the season at 7:30 (not sure if it includes any local NFL overruns). The Last Man on Earth (0.9) was the weak link, but all these shows at least preliminarily looked really good, matching their premieres from a year ago (and Bob's would be up if it holds). Next week will see the comedies get a likely monster NFL lead-in from Cowboys/Packers.
- And ABC's latest Sunday revamp included a dreadful start for sophomore dud The Toy Box (0.4) in the 7/6c hour, but promising growth from there for Shark Tank (1.1/1.4) on its new night. But the Shark Tank lead-in was no help for new drama Ten Days in the Valley (0.6), which on premiere night could only match last fall's Sunday lows for Secrets and Lies and Quantico.
Here are a few quick thoughts on what Premiere Friday says about the
renewal/cancellation landscape. These are based on prelims and I
probably will not get around to updating this page with the finals.
FINALS UPDATE: Hell's Kitchen (0.9) adjusted up.
WHAT MATTERS:- Life after Last Man Standing and Shark Tank began on ABC Friday with the two-hour premiere of Marvel's Inhumans (0.9/0.8) and 20/20 (0.6). For now, Inhumans was not that much weaker than what those shows did on the year-ago Premiere Friday, but this type of show does not have a sterling history of post-premiere holds.
- On CBS, the drama trio of MacGyver (0.8), Hawaii Five-0 (1.0) and Blue Bloods (1.1) returned intact from last season. MacGyver was only able to tie its weak finale low from last season, while Hawaii Five-0 also matched its finale and Blue Bloods was up a tenth.
- Fox also brought back its fall 2016 lineup of Hell's Kitchen (0.8) and The Exorcist (0.5). Exorcist did not live up to Fox's faith in it, opening on a new series low and just half of the year-ago series premiere. It was also a soft showing for Kitchen, which had never gone fractional in its 2016-17 season.
- We'll see Blindspot on NBC in a few weeks, but for now the network simply went with a repeat of Law and Order True Crime (0.5) and two hours of Dateline (0.8/0.9).
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