FINALS UPDATE: The Good Place Special (0.5) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- The 90-minute series finale of The Good Place (0.7/0.7/0.6), which included live post-show interviews, got the show back into 0.7 territory for the first time since the season premiere and matched its lead-in from Superstore (0.7).
- ABC came back to earth somewhat from last week's crossover premiere night, but still dominated the first two hours with Station 19 (1.0) and Grey's Anatomy (1.1). A Million Little Things (0.6) was down a notch at 10/9c.
- Fox's Last Man Standing (0.7) dropped a tenth, but the newbie lead-outs Outmatched (0.6) and Deputy (0.6) held on pretty well. The CBS comedies (1.0/0.6/0.7/0.6) were even vs. two weeks ago while Evil (0.5) ticked up in its season finale. And the CW was preliminarily on the high end with Supernatural (0.3) and Legacies (0.3).
FINALS UPDATE: S.W.A.T. (0.6) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:
FINALS UPDATE: This Is Us (1.4) adjusted up while
Arrow (0.2) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- The CW's Arrow ended its eight-season run with a 0.3 at 9/8c, leading out of a retrospective special at 8/7c (0.2).
- A mostly flat night for the big four saw The Conners (0.9) go fractional in the rounded numbers for the first time, while the other ABC comedies (0.6/0.5/0.5) and the finale of Emergence (0.3) matched last week. NBC's This Is Us (1.3) ticked down for the second straight week, while CBS' NCIS (1.1) was the only riser.
FINALS UPDATE: No adjustments.
WHAT MATTERS:- The Bachelor (1.7/1.6) couldn't hold onto all of last week's huge burst, but remained well ahead of steady head-to-head competitors America's Got Talent: The Champions (1.1/1.2) and 9-1-1: Lone Star (1.0).
- All three shows' lead-out dramas were down a tenth: The Good Doctor (0.8), Manifest (0.6) and Prodigal Son (0.6). For Manifest, it marked three tenths lost since the season premiere three weeks ago.
- CBS' only original was a special Undercover Boss (0.6) at 9/8c while the CW (0.2/0.2) was even.
FINALS UPDATE: Grammy Awards (5.4, +0.7) adjusted up while
Grammy Red Carpet Live (1.5, -0.8) and
Batwoman (0.1) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- Back in late January, the Grammy Awards preliminary ratings (5.0/5.0/4.3) were down only about 5% from last year's prelims (a 5.0 which adjusted up to 5.6 in finals).
- The CW's Batwoman (0.2) and Supergirl (0.2) stayed original, but the only other entertainment original was a two-hour American Ninja Warrior special (0.4/0.3) on NBC. ABC's repeat night (1.0/0.8/0.5) got a boost from Pro Bowl coverage in the afternoon and ended with a special on the death of Kobe Bryant in the 10/9c hour (0.5).
FINALS UPDATE: No adjustments.
FINALS UPDATE: A Million Little Things (0.7) and
Young Sheldon (R)
(0.6) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- Numbers posted. ABC's revamped Thursday featured Station 19 at 8/7c in a crossover with Grey's Anatomy at 9/8c, while A Million Little Things moved to 10/9c. Fox premiered new comedy Outmatched at 8:30 after Last Man Standing.
Station 19
Thursdays, 8/7c, ABC
Outmatched
Thursdays, 8:30/7:30c, Fox
FINALS UPDATE: No adjustments.
WHAT MATTERS:- ABC's 8/7c hour of The Goldbergs (0.8) and Schooled (0.7) bounced back, but Modern Family (0.8) lost a tenth and Single Parents (0.6) and Stumptown (0.4) were even.
- NBC's Chicago trio (1.1/1.1/1.0) was all down a tenth, as was S.W.A.T. (0.5) for CBS. Fox killed time before The Masked Singer's comeback with repeats of 9-1-1: Lone Star (0.4/0.4) while the return of Riverdale (0.2) could not bring Nancy Drew up from its 0.1.
FINALS UPDATE: No adjustments.
WHAT MATTERS:- The return of the regular ABC comedy lineup saw The Conners (1.0) inch down from its fall finale, while Bless This Mess (0.6) was even. At 9/8c, Mixed-ish (0.5) tied its low from the last time it didn't have a Jeopardy! lead-in, while Black-ish (0.5) and Emergence (0.3) matched last week.
- The CW's Arrow (0.3) moved to 8/7c before wrapping up with a two-hour event next week, while Legends of Tomorrow (0.2) began its season at 9/8c (though technically the last hour of Crisis On Infinite Earths counted as a Legends episode).
- After holding in week two, FBI: Most Wanted (0.7) dipped in week three, behind its rising FBI (0.9) lead-in. NBC's This Is Us (1.4) and New Amsterdam (0.7) each dropped a tenth from last week's winter premieres.
FINALS UPDATE: The Neighborhood (0.9) and
9-1-1: Lone Star (1.0) adjusted up.
WHAT MATTERS:- Numbers posted. 9-1-1: Lone Star made its timeslot debut on Fox.
The Magicians
Wednesdays, 10/9c, Syfy
Legends of Tomorrow
Tuesdays, 9/8c, CW
Grown-ish
Thursdays, 8/7c, Freeform
9-1-1: Lone Star
Mondays, 8/7c, Fox
68 Whiskey
Wednesdays, 10/9c, PARAMOUNT
FINALS UPDATE: Ellen's Game of Games (R)
(0.4),
NFC Championship (12.2, +2.2) and
9-1-1: Lone Star (3.1, +0.4) adjusted up.
WHAT MATTERS:- Numbers posted. Fox previewed new spin-off 9-1-1: Lone Star after the NFC Championship game.
FINALS UPDATE: No adjustments.
WHAT MATTERS:
FINALS UPDATE: Evil (0.4) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:
FINALS UPDATE: No adjustments.
WHAT MATTERS:- It was a rough return for the regular ABC lineup as The Goldbergs (0.7) and 10/9c drama Stumptown (0.4) each fell to new series lows. The 9/8c comedies Modern Family (0.9) and Single Parents (0.6) gave back all of their Jeopardy! bounces from a week ago.
- NBC's Chicago trio (1.2/1.2/1.1) dominated, with all three shows up a tenth from last week, while CBS' Undercover Boss (0.7) and Criminal Minds (0.7) matched last week's premieres and S.W.A.T. (0.6) returned even at 10/9c.
- Fox's Flirty Dancing (0.4) and Almost Family (0.3) had their last regularly-scheduled episodes before finishing their runs on Saturday, while the CW's Nancy Drew could only muster up a 0.1 for its return, leading out of The CW Dog Honors (0.1) rather than its usual Riverdale.
FINALS UPDATE: This Is Us (1.5) adjusted up.
WHAT MATTERS:- The last night of Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time (1.9) dominated but lost some steam from its low-2's level last week, and it also provided way less assistance to lead-out comedies Mixed-ish (0.7) and Black-ish (0.5). At 10/9c, Emergence cratered all the way to its first ever 0.3.
- NBC featured the returns of dramas This Is Us (1.4, down a notch from its fall finale) and New Amsterdam (even at 0.8). At 8/7c, Ellen's Game of Games (1.0) matched last week's 8/7c hour.
- The CW had its first drama programming of 2020, the two-hour wrap-up to Crisis on Infinite Earths (0.5/0.5). This was a dip from the 0.65/0.60/0.65 for the first three hours in early December.
- On the other two networks, the only movement was downticks from 24 Hours to Hell and Back (0.6) and FBI (0.8). That meant FBI's spin-off FBI: Most Wanted (0.8) had a promising week two hold at 10/9c.
FINALS UPDATE: America's Got Talent: The Champions (1.0) adjusted up.
WHAT MATTERS:- Up against the college football national championship game, week two saw multiple-tenth drops for both ABC's The Bachelor (1.6/1.5) and NBC's America's Got Talent: The Champions (0.9/1.0). At 10/9c, Manifest (0.7) slipped behind the return of The Good Doctor (0.8).
- CBS (0.6/0.5/0.4/0.4) went back into repeat mode while Fox (0.4/0.3) and the CW (0.2/0.1) stayed there.
FINALS UPDATE: NFL Playoffs (10.5, +1.9) adjusted up while
Bob's Burgers (2.1, -0.6) and
Bless the Harts (1.0, -0.3) adjusted down.
WHAT MATTERS:- Numbers to come. Fox had its first in a series of primetime NFL playoff games this year, while the CBS lineup started about a half hour after the end of its afternoon NFL game on the East Coast.
Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt For the Bone Collector
Fridays, 8/7c, NBC
FINALS UPDATE: No adjustments.
WHAT MATTERS:- NBC got a decent-for-Friday premiere out of new drama Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector (0.6), tying The Blacklist's season high on the night. Dateline (0.7) grew from there, winning the head-to-head with 20/20 (0.6).
- CBS was down a notch in the first two hours (0.8/0.7) vs. last week's Hawaii Five-0/Magnum P.I. crossover, while Blue Bloods (0.7) was even at 10/9c.
FINALS UPDATE: No adjustments.
WHAT MATTERS:- Numbers to come. A rearranged NBC comedy lineup saw The Good Place (8:30) and Will and Grace (9:00) return to longtime former timeslots, with Perfect Harmony shoved to 9:30. The third night of Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time led into a two-hour Truth & Lies on Jeffrey Epstein.
FINALS UPDATE: Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time (2.4) adjusted up.
WHAT MATTERS:- Night two of Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time (2.3) held up swimmingly, dropping just a tenth from its Tuesday premiere. And it had an even more profound impact on the Wednesday comedy hour, vaulting Modern Family (1.5) and Single Parents (0.9) to new season highs and their best raw ratings since 2018. But Stumptown (0.5) couldn't pick up any steam at 10/9c.
- CBS brought in a couple veterans to help bridge the Survivor seasons on Wednesday, with the season premieres of Undercover Boss (0.7) and Criminal Minds (0.7/0.7). This was the first sighting of the Boss since a celebrity edition in summer 2018, and the first non-celebrity season since spring 2017. Minds was back after almost a full year off, but managed to tie its 0.7 premiere in fall 2018.
- NBC's Chicago Med (1.1), Chicago Fire (1.1) and Chicago PD (1.0) all returned down a notch from their fall finales. And the Fox duo of Flirty Dancing (0.3) and Almost Family (0.3) somehow got even more invisible.
Undercover Boss
Wednesdays, 8/7c, CBS
Criminal Minds
Wednesdays, 9/8c, CBS
FINALS UPDATE: Batwoman (R)
(0.2) adjusted up.
WHAT MATTERS:- ABC's Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time (2.4) event was a breakout success, posting nearly the same Plus as last winter's The Masked Singer premiere. It was one of the biggest things to air on ABC all season, topped only by The Little Mermaid Live! and the last hour of New Year's Rockin' Eve. It also had enough juice to vault Mixed-ish (1.1) to a new series high by a wide margin, and even helped out Black-ish (0.8) and Emergence (0.5) later in the night.
- NBC featured the two-hour return of Ellen's Game of Games (1.0/1.1), which took about the same 30%ish year-to-year drop as America's Got Talent: The Champions did on Monday. It led into a very early preview for Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (0.6), the musical drama which will next air on Sundays over a month from now.
- CBS premiered its latest procedural spinoff FBI: Most Wanted (0.8), which dropped a tenth from the FBI mothership (0.9) and basically looked like a high-end episode of previous occupant NCIS: New Orleans. The CBS night began with a steady NCIS (1.0).
- Even Fox had a season premiere as the Gordon Ramsay offering 24 Hours to Hell and Back (0.7) returned for season three and matched its The Resident lead-in (0.7). The year-to-years look bad since 24 Hours aired alongside The Masked Singer last year, but it's a fine result considering the show hit a 0.8 without Masked help at the end of last season.
Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time
Tuesdays, 8/7c, ABC
FBI: Most Wanted
Tuesdays, 10/9c, CBS
Ellen's Game of Games
Tuesdays, 8/7c, NBC
24 Hours to Hell and Back
Tuesdays, 9/8c, Fox
FINALS UPDATE: The Bachelor (1.9) adjusted up.
WHAT MATTERS:- Last winter's big duel between The Bachelor (2.1/1.9/1.6) and America's Got Talent: The Champions (1.3/1.3) began its second round, and the momentum remained squarely with the ABC franchise. AGT won last year's premiere night 1.8 to 1.5, but this time it was a resounding victory for The Bachelor, with the franchise up several tenths year-to-year while Champions was down 30%ish.
- At 10/9c, NBC brought back sophomore drama Manifest (0.9). While it of course couldn't match last season's breakout 2.2 premiere, it was close to its deliveries from late last season, offering some hope it could remain one of the strongest 10/9c dramas on TV.
- CBS also returned, toward the high end with comedies The Neighborhood (0.9) and Bob Hearts Abishola (0.8). But legal drama All Rise (0.5) had a major dud showing at 9/8c, while Bull pulled itself back up to 0.6 at 10/9c.
The Bachelor
Mondays, 8/7c, ABC
Manifest
Mondays, 10/9c, NBC
America's Got Talent: The Champions
Mondays, 8/7c, NBC
FINALS UPDATE: NFL Overrun (9.8, +0.6) and
Golden Globe Awards (4.7, +0.9) adjusted up.
WHAT MATTERS:- Despite an NFL playoff lead-in (9.2 demo in the 7:00 half-hour), NBC's Golden Globe Awards (3.8 from 8:00 to 11:00) were down about 15% from last year's 4.5 prelim (which later adjusted up to 5.2).
- The rest of the big four plowed ahead with at least a few originals. ABC looked pretty typical with America's Funniest Home Videos (0.7), Kids Say the Darndest Things (0.5) and Shark Tank (0.6). Fox hit a season low with The Simpsons (0.6) but grew at 8:30 with a special Family Guy (0.7). And CBS plummeted to new season lows for dramas God Friended Me (0.4) and NCIS: Los Angeles (0.5).
Last Man Standing
Thursdays, 8/7c, Fox
Flirty Dancing
Wednesdays, 8/7c, Fox
Doctor Who
Sundays, 8/7c, BBC-AMERICA
Deputy
Thursdays, 9/8c, Fox
FINALS UPDATE: No adjustments.
FINALS UPDATE: Last Man Standing (1.0) and
Deputy (0.8) adjusted up.
WHAT MATTERS:- Night two of the Fox winter rollout saw the one-hour return of comedy Last Man Standing (0.9) and new drama Deputy (0.7) at 9/8c. LMS went 50% below the incredible start of its first Fox season, but had about the same raw numbers it was bringing to Friday night late last season. Deputy skewed rather old, bringing about 600,000 more viewers but three tenths less in the demo compared with the Prodigal Son premiere in the fall.
- Last Man was in a tight race to top the hour and the night, as ABC's behind-the-scenes Jeopardy! special (0.9) tied it at 8/7c. The network's multi-night Jeopardy! champions event begins on Tuesday.
Because one of these lists each year is stressful enough, I decided for my look back on the entire decade to do a slightly less organized and researched list, separating all the main contenders into three general tiers. I feel pretty good about these tiers but didn't want to waste too many brain cells on the order within those tiers, so everything within each tier is "in no particular order." If you want to use this as a guide for your own formal list, feel free! ;-)
FINALS UPDATE: No adjustments.
WHAT MATTERS:- Fox was first into the entertainment programming game in the new year, but got no reward for its efforts as reality newbie Flirty Dancing (0.4) was DOA at 8/7c, while Almost Family (0.3) returned to match its lows from Thanksgiving week.
FINALS UPDATE: NCIS (R)
(0.4) and
FBI (R)
(0.3) adjusted down.
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