Spotted Ratings, Monday 7/30/18

FINALS UPDATE: The Proposal (0.6) adjusted down.

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 7/29/18

FINALS UPDATE: Big Brother (1.5) adjusted up.

The Breakdown: Fox Thursday in 2017-18 (Gotham, The Orville, The Four and more!)

It's time for a journey through the Fox Thursday schedule in 2017-18...

The Ultimate SpotVault, The Goldbergs

The Ultimate SpotVault is a fully sortable record of every single episode in the history of a veteran series. This allows you to compare both raw numbers (total viewership and adults 18-49 rating) as well as the historical-adjusted stat A18-49+ for episodes across different seasons. This table also has the lead-in's A18-49+ for each episode, so you can see which episodes had the most and least support.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 7/27/18

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 7/26/18

FINALS UPDATE: Young Sheldon (R) (0.8), Trial and Error (0.4), Burden of Truth (R) (0.2) and Black Lightning (R) (0.1) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Numbers to come.

A18-49+ Season Comparison Interactive Chart - Now Updated for 2017-18!

This is an interactive chart allowing you to compare seasonal A18-49+ ratings (through 2017-18) for up to three different shows. It includes the 166 broadcast scripted shows with at least a 200 Career A18-49+, the same shows included on the Career A18-49+ Sortable Table.

Career A18-49+ Sortable Table - Now Updated for 2017-18!

This is the Career A18-49+ sortable table, with A18-49+ numbers that can be used to evaluate the full run of a series. This includes Career A18-49+, the sum of each individual season's historical-adjusted A18-49 rating, as well as how many times each show went over some of the A18-49+ label thresholds.

A few quick notes about what's in here:

• This includes all 166 broadcast scripted series with a career A18-49+ total of 200 or higher. Unlike in previous years, that means a handful of netlet shows are in the mix (though of course they can be filtered out easily). The 45 "hit for CW" and 35 "solid for CW" labels are applied to the "hit" and "solid" counts for those shows.
• This number will be incomplete for shows that aired before 2001, but to help account for this, the number of missing seasons is included in parentheses under the "Seasons" column. You can also filter in or out the shows that have missing seasons, as well as the shows still "active" (and thus still adding to their counts).

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 7/25/18

FINALS UPDATE: American Housewife (R) (0.5) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• World of Dance (1.0) finally made its long-anticipated move to Wednesday, where it was a couple tenths behind what it had been doing on Tuesday after America's Got Talent. It was no help to Reverie, which made it five weeks in a row at 0.4.
  

• After holding up OK in week two, it was a rough week three for CBS' TKO: Total Knock Out (0.6); it was down two tenths while its lead-in Big Brother (1.5) was actually up. On Fox, 24 Hours to Hell and Back (0.9) inched down to finish behind its MasterChef lead-in (1.0).

• The CW introduced Kristin Kreuk drama Burden of Truth (0.2), which had a few more total viewers but a lower demo than lead-out The Originals (0.3).

The Breakdown: NBC Thursday in 2017-18 (Superstore, Will and Grace, Chicago Fire and more!)

It's time for a journey through the NBC Thursday schedule in 2017-18...

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 7/24/18

FINALS UPDATE: The Last Defense (0.3) adjusted down.

The War of 18-49, Jane the Virgin

The CW Goes Off-Brand

As of fall 2014, the CW had its DC superhero shows in ascendancy and a still strong vampire empire with The Vampire Diaries on Thursday and The Originals moving to Monday. But with that Originals lead-in, the network tried something totally different: the telenovela-inspired dramedy Jane the Virgin. It didn't really seem to fit with anything else on the network, but there was real interest for the show on premiere night; it opened with 1.61 million viewers and a 0.6 demo rating. It was down a tenth from The Originals, but clearly brought some different audience to the table as it was up by more than 200,000 viewers. 

Jane was down to 0.5 and then 0.4 the next two weeks, and hit 0.4 three more times in the next four weeks. At that point, things were looking shaky; the last two 0.4's were down at least two tenths from the lead-in. But the show seemed to catch on a bit from there, hitting two 0.5's to end the fall and then three 0.6's during the winter months. In the end, its average for the season was only about a tenth below The Originals.

Different Monday Lead-ins

The CW sent The Originals to join The Vampire Diaries on Thursday and decided to embrace what Jane the Virgin had brought to Monday, uniting it with another new dramedy called Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. But Crazy never resonated in the ratings to even the small extent that Jane had; it spent most of the season at a measly 0.3, down about half from last year's The Originals, and that probably wiped out any chance Jane had at a sophomore bounce. Jane usually built by a tenth from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, but that was still about a tenth below where it had been the previous year.

In season three came another wild change in lead-in; the CW picked up cancelled CBS superhero drama Supergirl and left it in the Monday 8/7c hour it had occupied on CBS. Though it was over double what Crazy had done in 2015-16, it was not something that was gonna boost Jane; it pretty much just kept plugging away with the same 0.3's and 0.4's as the previous season, and even fell to some 0.2's late in the year.

Surrender Friday

For fall 2017, the CW wanted to try doing something more with the established Supergirl lead-in, so it was finally time for Jane the Virgin to leave the Monday 9/8c hour. Jane headed for Friday, where it reunited with its season two teammate Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Once again on Friday, Jane showed that within this universe where everything is low-rated, it at least had a little more audience than Crazy Ex; it was up about four hundredths from CEG on average, despite not having the local programming lead-ins. Both the shows were renewed for one last season.

The Final Season

Season five brought Jane's return to the weeknight schedule, albeit very late in the regular season and into the summer. It was a solid retainer of a struggling Riverdale in the late spring, then held onto 0.2's into its summer run, marking only a teeny decline in raw numbers from the diet of 0.2's and 0.3's in its Friday season. 

Adults 18-49 info by season:

Seas	Year	Slot	Avg	y2y	Lo	Hi	Results	Grade
1	2014-15	Monday 9:00	0.48		0.4	0.6	detail
2	2015-16		Monday 9:00	0.38	-22%	0.3	0.6	detail	C+
3	2016-17		Monday 9:00	0.36	-4%	0.2	0.4	detail	C+
4	2017-18	Friday 9:00	0.24	-33%	0.2	0.3	detail	B-
5	Spring 2019	Wednesday 9:00	0.23	-5%	0.2	0.3	detail	B-

Historical-adjusted ratings by season:

Seas	Year	A18-49+	Label	Now19	y2y	Lo	Hi	Premiere	Finale
1	2014-15	29	marginal(CW)	0.27		24	36	36	30
2	2015-16	26	marginal(CW)	0.25	-10%	21	38	27	26
3	2016-17	30	marginal(CW)	0.28	+14%	19	37	36	29
4	2017-18	22	solid(CWFri)	0.21	-26%	17	29	26	19
5	Spring 2019	24	flop	0.23	+9%	20	32	32	25
AVERAGE:		AVERAGE:	26	marginal(CW)

The War of 18-49 chronicles the ratings history of veteran primetime series. For more, see the Index.

Spotted Ratings, Monday 7/23/18

FINALS UPDATE: Mom (R) (0.6) adjusted up while The Proposal (0.6) adjusted down.

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 7/22/18

FINALS UPDATE: Big Brother (1.5) adjusted up while TKO: Total Knock Out (R) (0.4) and Shades of Blue (0.4) adjusted down.

SpotVault - Trial and Error (NBC) - Summer 2018 Ratings

SpotVault - Snowfall (FX) - Summer 2018 Ratings

SpotVault - Suits (USA) - Summer 2018 Ratings

The Breakdown: CBS Thursday in 2017-18 (The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, Mom and more!)

It's time for a journey through the CBS Thursday schedule in 2017-18...

The Ultimate SpotVault, Empire

The Ultimate SpotVault is a fully sortable record of every single episode in the history of a veteran series. This allows you to compare both raw numbers (total viewership and adults 18-49 rating) as well as the historical-adjusted stat A18-49+ for episodes across different seasons. This table also has the lead-in's A18-49+ for each episode, so you can see which episodes had the most and least support.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 7/20/18

FINALS UPDATE: American Ninja Warrior (R) (0.6), Masters of Illusion (0.2), Masters of Illusion (R) (0.2) and Penn and Teller: Fool Us (R) (0.2) adjusted down.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 7/19/18

WHAT MATTERS:

• Over 15 months after its season one finale, NBC sitcom Trial and Error (0.6/0.5) returned with two episodes in the 9/8c hour. It was a weak rookie, and this doesn't really seem much weaker than the high fractionals it was getting with a The Voice lead-in late in season one. (It also got a 0.6 when tried out on Thursday in April 2017.)

• Reality staples Big Brother (1.6) and The Four (0.9) both rose to new season highs. 

• And ABC tried out Take Two (0.4) in the 8/7c hour, with The Gong Show (0.5) returning to its season one timeslot at 10/9c. There was no benefit to this swap, as both shows tied their season lows (with Take Two down from last week).

A18-49+ Update: Originals vs. Repeats, Comedies vs. Dramas in 2017-18

Here's a look at the different types of programming in 2017-18. This post will combine the broad programming categories (originals, repeats, sports, specials, movies) as well as the sub-categories within the original series realm (comedies, dramas, reality, news).

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 7/18/18

WHAT MATTERS:

• Week two for CBS' TKO: Total Knock Out (0.8) was down a tenth from last week, as were its lead-in Big Brother (1.4) and lead-out, the series finale of Code Black (0.7). Meanwhile, some viewers came back to the Fox duo of MasterChef (1.0) and 24 Hours to Hell and Back (1.0), which were both up a notch.

• The ESPY Awards (0.9/0.9/0.8) ceremony took its sharpest decline on ABC, dropping about a third from last year's 1.4. The show has gone from a 2.2 in its ABC debut three years ago to fractional in 2018.

The Breakdown: ABC Thursday in 2017-18 (Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder and more!)

It's time for a journey through the ABC Thursday schedule in 2017-18...

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 7/17/18

WHAT MATTERS:

• It was a virtual dead heat in the prelims between the MLB All-Star Game (2.1/2.1/2.0) and the usual Tuesday leader America's Got Talent (1.9/2.2). The All-Star Game should finish within a tenth or two of last year's 2.3, when it lost the head-to-head against Talent's 2.5. At 10/9c, World of Dance was back at a preliminary 1.3 (it adjusted down last week).

• On the CW, The 100 was down to 0.2 in its second week at 8/7c. Lead-out The Outpost at least preliminarily grew to a 0.2 of its own.

The War of 18-49, The Last Man on Earth

Spotted Ratings, Monday 7/16/18

FINALS UPDATE: Whose Line Is It Anyway? (R) (0.3) adjusted up while The Proposal (0.7) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• ABC's The Bachelorette (1.5/1.6) began its late-season ascendancy, picking up at least a tenth from last week and possibly tying its season high. The Proposal (0.8) was also up a notch at 10/9c.

• On NBC, American Ninja Warrior (1.0/1.1) continued to look a bit better in the earlier timeslot, even to slightly up vs. last week, while Dateline (0.9) had a strong outing at 10/9c.

• CBS got no help from a TKO: Total Knock Out repeat (0.5) at 8/7c, as Salvation stayed at 0.3 (this time in the 9/8c hour) and Elementary at 0.4. And So You Think You Can Dance (0.6) was down a tick for Fox.

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 7/15/18

WHAT MATTERS:

• CBS' Big Brother (1.4) was up for the second straight Sunday, expanding its lead on Celebrity Family Feud (1.0) which (at least preliminarily) fell to a new season low. ABC's The $100,000 Pyramid (0.9) was even while To Tell the Truth (0.8) was up a tick (though it had a 0.8 in prelims last week before adjusting down).

The Breakdown: CW Wednesday in 2017-18 (Riverdale, Dynasty, Life Sentence and more!)

It's time for a journey through the CW Wednesday schedule in 2017-18...

Spotted Ratings, Friday 7/13/18

FINALS UPDATE: American Ninja Warrior (R) (0.5) adjusted down.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 7/12/18

FINALS UPDATE: The Four (0.8) adjusted down.

SpotVault - The Outpost (CW) - Summer 2018 Ratings

SpotVault - TKO: Total Knock Out (CBS) - Summer 2018 Ratings

2017-18 Updates to the Best of Plus

Just a heads up that I have updated the four Best of Plus posts, which look at the top performers in the 17 years for which there are historical-adjusted A18-49+ ratings available. Here's what's new on each list:

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 7/11/18

FINALS UPDATE: Shark Tank (R) (0.6) and The Originals (0.3) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• CBS' relentlessly promoted Kevin Hart series TKO: Total Knock Out opened with a 0.9, 60% of its lead-in from Big Brother (1.5). That's certainly no better than where last year's unscripted Big Bro lead-out Candy Crush started last year (1.1 out of a 1.8), and a good bit less impressive than the 1.2 for Beat Shazam (another summer series hosted by a movie star) last summer. It was in a three-way tie for the lead at 9/8c with the second half of an America's Got Talent recap special (0.9) and 24 Hours to Hell and Back (0.9). At 10/9c, Code Black (0.8) bounced back to a high-end rating after facing the 4th of July last week.

• Fox took a hit on a busy night for unscripted programming, with both MasterChef (0.9) and the aforementioned 24 Hours (0.9) dropping two tenths. The CW's The Originals was down to 0.2 with its first original in three weeks.

The Breakdown: Fox Wednesday in 2017-18 (Empire, 9-1-1, Star and more!)

It's time for a journey through the Fox Wednesday schedule in 2017-18...

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 7/10/18

FINALS UPDATE: 20/20 Special (0.7) adjusted up while World of Dance (1.2) and The Outpost (0.1) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Back from a week off due to the holiday, NBC's America's Got Talent (1.9/2.2) and World of Dance (1.3) along with Fox's Beat Shazam (0.7) and Love Connection (0.5) were in line with two weeks ago. The Last Defense (0.5) inched up for ABC with maybe a little help from a 20/20 special on the Thailand rescue (0.6).

• The CW moved The 100 (0.3) to 8/7c to launch new drama The Outpost (0.2), which tied last summer's premiere of Hooten and the Lady.

The War of 18-49, Scorpion

Spotted Ratings, Monday 7/9/18

FINALS UPDATE: Finals are listed below.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Big four ratings are uncertain till finals due to a news interruption for a Supreme Court announcement across much of the 9:00 half-hour.

• NBC completed its Sunday/Monday shakeup with American Ninja Warrior (with a 0.9 in the 8:00 hour and a 1.0/0.8 from 9:30 to 10:30) returning to the first two hours of the night and Dateline (0.6) replacing Running Wild.
• ABC's The Bachelorette (1.4 in the 8:00 hour, 1.4 at 9:30 and 1.0 at 10:00) looks to have gotten back to normal after last week's holiday hiccup, and Fox's So You Think You Can Dance (0.7) was also up.
• CBS joined an NCIS: New Orleans repeat (0.4) in progress after the announcement and aired a Salvation original (0.3) at 10/9c. 

SpotVault - Sharp Objects (HBO) - Summer 2018 Ratings

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 7/8/18

FINALS UPDATE: The Simpsons (R) (0.5) adjusted up while To Tell the Truth (0.7) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• ABC's game shows were close to their last originals from two weeks ago, with Celebrity Family Feud (1.1) down a notch and The $100,000 Pyramid (0.9) and To Tell the Truth (0.8) both even.

• But CBS' Big Brother (1.3) came out on top in the first head-to-head with the Feud, ticking up from its Sunday premiere last week. (Feud looks better on a year-to-year basis, as it lost this matchup 1.8 to 1.3 a year-ago.)

• And on NBC, Running Wild (0.3) got a severe downgrade to the Sunday 7/6 hour and lost half of its usual Monday audience. Shades of Blue posted another 0.5 at 10/9c.

The Breakdown: NBC Wednesday in 2017-18 (The Blacklist, Law and Order: SVU, Chicago PD)

It's time for a journey through the NBC Wednesday schedule in 2017-18...

Spotted Ratings, Friday 7/6/18

FINALS UPDATE: Masters of Illusion (0.2) adjusted down.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 7/5/18

FINALS UPDATE: Young Sheldon (R) (0.9) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• CBS' Big Brother (1.3) rebounded significantly from the July 4th low, but was down a notch from last Thursday and posted another sharp year-to-year decline. (The show got a 1.9 on this night a year ago.)

• Fox's repeat week continued with an encore of The Four (0.5), and that may have helped some of the unscripted competition a bit as Little Big Shots (0.8) and The Gong Show (0.6) both inched up. Later in the night, NBC was even with Marlon (0.6/0.6) as was ABC with Match Game (0.7) and Take Two (0.4).

The Breakdown: CBS Wednesday in 2017-18 (Survivor, SEAL Team, Criminal Minds and more!)

It's time for a journey through the CBS Wednesday schedule in 2017-18...

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 7/4/18

FINALS UPDATE: Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular (R) (0.8) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• It was a busier than usual 4th of July in the entertainment series world as CBS stayed original with Big Brother (0.9) at 9/8c and Code Black (0.6) at 10/9c. On one of the lowest-viewed weeknights of the year, Big Brother was down about 40% vs. last week's 1.5 Wednesday premiere, and three tenths below the 1.2 on Sunday.

• Usual Independence Day leader NBC was still on top with the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular (1.0/1.5), which was preliminarily right on par with last year's 1.3. A Macy's encore hour (0.9) dominated at 10/9c.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 7/3/18

FINALS UPDATE: America's Got Talent (R) (1.1) adjusted up while Bull (R) (0.4) and World of Dance (R) (0.7) adjusted down.

SpotVault - Power (STARZ) - Summer 2018 Ratings

SpotVault - Big Brother (CBS) - Summer 2018 Ratings

SpotVault - Masters of Illusion (CW) - Summer 2018 Ratings

SpotVault - Salvation (CBS) - Summer 2018 Ratings

SpotVault - Penn and Teller: Fool Us (CW) - Summer 2018 Ratings

SpotVault - Preacher (AMC) - Summer 2018 Ratings

Spotted Ratings, Monday 7/2/18

WHAT MATTERS:

• With the 4th of July approaching, ABC stayed original and took a bit of a hit with The Bachelorette (1.2) and The Proposal (0.7). But fellow reality staples American Ninja Warrior (0.7) and So You Think You Can Dance (0.6) went into repeat mode.

• Several lower-rated shows remained in originals: NBC's Running Wild (0.6), CBS' drama duo of Salvation (0.4, matching last week's premiere) and Elementary (down to 0.4 for the first time since Memorial Day), along with the CW's Penn and Teller: Fool Us and Whose Line Is It Anyway? (both steady at 0.3).

The War of 18-49, Gotham

A Strong But Unspectacular Start

A year after Marvel brought its superhero cinematic universe to the small screen with Agents of SHIELD, it was DC's turn to try a similar gambit on the big four with Batman prequel Gotham. Out of the gate, Gotham was big, but certainly no Agents of SHIELD; its 8.31 million viewers and 3.3 demo rating paled in comparison to SHIELD's 4.7 start a year ago. The 3.3 was not even meaningfully different from the 3.5 where Sleepy Hollow had started the previous fall for Fox.

The good news was that Gotham held up more reasonably post-premiere; it was down a very acceptable 15% to 2.8 in week two, then hit a 2.5, and then inched down each of the next three weeks. But the low-2's were basically the norm for the rest of the fall and winter. Even with a shaky return late in the season (1.5 -> 1.6 -> 1.5 -> 1.7) it eked out a higher Plus average for season one than Agents of SHIELD (127). Considering where it started, that was a nice season for Gotham.

A Lower Level on Monday

Unfortunately for Gotham, it was that weak spring level that showed up in the fall of 2015, rather than the low-2's that had hung on for most of the rookie season. Gotham opened season two with just a 1.6 rating, more than 50% below the series premiere. But most of that crowd stuck around for the entirety of season two, with the show going no lower than 1.2 even deep into the spring. Season three also held up OK, staying north of 1.0 through the fall and winter and even breaking 1.0 for the majority of its late spring/early summer run.

The Move to Thursday

Attempting to create a more consistent overall schedule, Fox broke up its Monday Gotham / Lucifer pairing in fall 2017. While Lucifer remained on Monday, Gotham was slid over to Thursday night. Early on, it held up pretty admirably, breaking 1.0 for the season premiere and then starting a lengthy streak of 0.9's. But a couple 0.8's to end the fall were an omen of things to come; it returned to a 0.8 in early March, then hit its first 0.7 and first 0.6 in the next two weeks. The spring run was a mix of 0.6's and 0.7's, making for a much weaker show than the one that had been getting 1.0's in the late spring a year ago. In a season that saw Fox massacre its live-action comedy department and even cancel Lucifer, it looked like Gotham could be in trouble. But in an 11th-hour decision, the network decided to give Gotham a reprieve for a shortened fifth and final season, which saw a relatively modest decline by Gotham standards.

Adults 18-49 info by season:

Seas	Year	Slot	Avg	y2y	Lo	Hi	Results	Grade
1	2014-15	Monday 8:00	2.18		1.5	3.3	detail
2	2015-16		Monday 8:00	1.40	-36%	1.2	1.6	detail	C
3	2016-17		Monday 8:00	1.06	-24%	0.9	1.2	detail	B-
4	2017-18	Thursday 8:00	0.77	-27%	0.6	1.0	detail	C
5	Winter 2019		Thursday 8:00	0.62	-19%	0.5	0.7	detail	C

Historical-adjusted ratings by season:

Seas	Year	A18-49+	Label	Now19	y2y	Lo	Hi	Premiere	Finale
1	2014-15	129	hit	1.23		89	196	196	101
2	2015-16	96	marginal	0.91	-26%	79	110	109	81
3	2016-17	86	marginal	0.82	-10%	72	102	102	73
4	2017-18	70	marginal	0.67	-19%	50	91	91	59
5	Winter 2019	65	flop	0.62	-7%	56	72	70	56
AVERAGE:		AVERAGE:	89	marginal
CAREER:		CAREER:	447	utility

The War of 18-49 chronicles the ratings history of veteran primetime series. For more, see the Index.

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 7/1/18

FINALS UPDATE: Bob's Burgers (R) (0.6) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• ABC's game shows went into repeat mode (0.8/0.7/0.6), so CBS pretty much had the stage to itself with the Sunday premiere of Big Brother (1.2). Like the Wednesday (1.5) and Thursday (1.4) premieres, it was down two tenths year-to-year (or a bit more than a league average decline). Big Bro was absolutely no help to incompatible lead-out Instinct (0.4), which was actually down week-to-week despite a much larger lead-in.

• The only other original on broadcast, NBC's Shades of Blue (0.5), matched last week.

The Breakdown: ABC Wednesday in 2017-18 (The Goldbergs, Modern Family, American Housewife and more!)

It's time for a journey through the ABC Wednesday schedule in 2017-18...