Spotted Ratings, Friday 10/30/20

FINALS UPDATE: Shark Tank (0.7), The Deciders: A CBS News Special (0.3) and WWE SmackDown! (0.7) adjusted up while The 13 Scariest Movies of All Time (R) (0.1) adjusted down.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 10/29/20

FINALS UPDATE: Match Game (0.5), Young Sheldon (R) (0.5), Connecting... (0.3) and Thursday Night Football (3.4, +1.2) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Numbers posted.

SpotVault - This Is Us (NBC) - 2020-21 Ratings

This Is Us

Tuesdays, 9/8c, NBC

Status: RENEWED for next season (confirmed on 5/12/2019)

SpotVault - The Goldbergs (ABC) - 2020-21 Ratings

The Goldbergs

Wednesdays, 8/7c, ABC

Status: RENEWED for next season (confirmed on 5/14/2021)

SpotVault - The Conners (ABC) - Fall 2020 Ratings

The Conners

Wednesdays, 9/8c, ABC

Status: RENEWED for next season (confirmed on 5/14/2021)

SpotVault - Superstore (NBC) - 2020-21 Ratings

Superstore

Thursdays, 8:30/7:30c, NBC

Status: ENDING after this season (confirmed on 12/3/2020)

SpotVault - American Housewife (ABC) - 2020-21 Ratings

American Housewife

Wednesdays, 8:30/7:30c, ABC

Status: ENDING after this season (confirmed on 5/14/2021)

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 10/28/20

FINALS UPDATE: The Conners (0.8) and Big Brother (1.1) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• ABC veteran American Housewife (0.6) joined the comedy lineup at 8:30, fitting in pretty closely with surrounding anchors The Goldbergs (0.7) and The Conners (0.7) which were down from last week's premieres. Black-ish (0.6) matched last week and The Con (0.4) gave up a tenth.
  

• On CBS, The Amazing Race (0.7) moved to 8/7c and led into the two-hour season finale of Big Brother (1.1/1.0). Fox's The Masked Singer (1.6) and I Can See Your Voice (1.0) returned since there was no baseball and were narrowly down from two weeks ago.
  

The War of 18-49, Man with a Plan

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 10/27/20

FINALS UPDATE: The Price Is Right Special (0.8) and World Series (3.4, +0.7) adjusted up while The Conners (R) (0.4) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC's This Is Us (1.4/1.3) made a solid two-hour return to the broadcast stage, building significantly on its The Voice (1.0) lead-in, though TIU was still down 25-30% from last year's premiere and also down from the spring's COVID-boosted finale (1.7).

• That was enough to edge NBC ahead of ABC with a rebounding The Bachelorette (1.2/1.3) and comedy repeats (0.5/0.3), though Fox reigned supreme with the sixth and final game of the World Series (3.1/2.6/2.4).

• CBS also got into the mix on a busy night with two hours of its daytime game shows (0.7/0.6) in primetime, though they weren't a great match with The FBI Declassified (0.3). And the CW preliminarily edged back up to 0.2 with Swamp Thing.
  

Spotted Ratings, Monday 10/26/20

FINALS UPDATE: Dancing with the Stars (0.8, -0.2) and Emergency Call (0.4, -0.2) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Week two of the pairing between The Voice (1.0) and Weakest Link (0.6) saw a two-tenth drop for both shows. The NBC lineup is not meaningfully ahead of ABC's Dancing with the Stars (0.9/1.0) and Emergency Call (0.6) at least in the prelims, though ABC could be affected by football preemptions in finals.
  

• Fox's LA's Finest (0.4) and Filthy Rich (0.3) came back to earth after football bumps last week, while CBS aired a special on essential workers (0.2) at 9/8c after Big Brother (1.0), bumping One Day At a Time (0.2/0.2) into the 10:00 hour.
  

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 10/25/20

FINALS UPDATE: Supermarket Sweep (0.9), Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (0.6), NFL Overrun (6.1, +2.5), 60 Minutes (2.5), Sunday Night Football (4.3, +0.7) and World Series (2.6, +0.8) adjusted up while The Neighborhood (R) (0.7, -0.4), Football Night in America p2 (1.4, -0.4), Football Night in America p3 (2.2, -0.8), World Series Pregame (1.0, -0.7) and Pandora (0.0) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• ABC's game show lineup of Supermarket Sweep (0.8), Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (0.5) and Card Sharks (0.3) took relatively standard week two drops. This left Sweep still ahead of the year-ago second episode of Kids Say the Darndest Things (0.75).

• There was another heavy suite of sports competition from Sunday Night Football (4.1/3.9/3.1) and the World Series (2.2/1.5/1.5), plus the presidential interviews on 60 Minutes (2.4) had that show looking stronger than usual.

The War of 18-49, The Good Place

Spotted Ratings, Friday 10/23/20

FINALS UPDATE: Shark Tank (0.6), Big Brother Special (0.6), Blue Bloods (R) (0.3) and World Series (2.0, +0.7) adjusted up.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 10/22/20

FINALS UPDATE: ABC Presidential Debate (2.6, +0.5), ABC Presidential Debate Analysis (1.6, +0.2), CBS Presidential Debate (1.3, +0.2), CBS Presidential Debate Analysis (0.9), NBC Presidential Debate (2.6, +0.5), NBC Presidential Debate Analysis (1.6, +0.3) and Thursday Night Football (3.2, +1.1) adjusted up while Debate Preview Special (0.7) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Numbers posted. On the night of the second presidential debate, this time Fox sat out of the broadcast simulcast in favor of Thursday Night Football.

The War of 18-49, MacGyver

A Friday Splash

Friday night usually doesn't produce one of the biggest surprises of the fall premiere week, but in 2016 it delivered. CBS' reboot of MacGyver exploded out of the gate with a 1.7 demo / 137 Plus, which was the biggest Plus for a Friday night scripted episode since all the way back when Law and Order: SVU was on the night in the early aughts. (For the record, Mac's achievement was upstaged a couple years later by several episodes of Last Man Standing.) Mac did not sustain that level, dropping to 1.3 and 1.1 the next two weeks, but it pretty much held up from there. This was as strong as anything CBS had in this timeslot in the A18-49+ era, even above the peak seasons of Ghost Whisperer.

Finding a Level

MacGyver opened season two with just a 0.8, down by half from the previous season's premiere, and it pretty much held close to that all season long. That left the show at a noticeably lower Plus than in season one, more along the lines of a lot of previous historical occupants of the timeslot (from Ghost Whisperer to Undercover Boss to The Amazing Race). And it was basically even in Plus for season three, mostly hanging around 0.7 with the occasional 0.8 or 0.6.

In 2019-20, CBS decided to add sophomore Magnum P.I. to the Friday rotation. Despite its strength, MacGyver was still the relative weak link in a potent lineup that included Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods, so it got held for midseason and didn't have its season four premiere till February 2020. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the numbers; the show looked solid in the winter, opening the year with three 0.7's, and then it swung up to a couple 0.8's at the height of the COVID-19 viewing inflations. The 13-episode season didn't quite get back up to the season one Plus levels, but it was noticeably above seasons two and three. And, since Hawaii Five-0 ended in the spring of 2020, MacGyver will be back on the Friday first string (and continuing at 8/7c) going forward.

Adults 18-49 info by season:

Seas	Year	Slot	Avg	y2y	Lo	Hi	Results	Grade
1	2016-17	Friday 8:00	1.09		0.8	1.7	detail	A-
2	2017-18		Friday 8:00	0.83	-23%	0.6	1.0	detail	C+
3	2018-19		Friday 8:00	0.70	-16%	0.6	0.8	detail	B-
4	Spring 2020		Friday 8:00	0.67	-5%	0.6	0.8	detail	B+
5	Winter 2020-21		Friday 8:00	0.51	-24%	0.4	0.6	detail	B-

Historical-adjusted ratings by season:

Seas	Year	A18-49+	Label	Now21	y2y	Lo	Hi	Premiere	Finale
1	2016-17	89	hit(Fri)	0.57		68	137	137	68
2	2017-18	76	hit(Fri)	0.49	-14%	59	94	75	59
3	2018-19	74	solid(Fri)	0.47	-3%	61	85	70	68
4	Spring 2020	81	hit(Fri)	0.52	+11%	68	98	81	76
5	Winter 2020-21	78	hit(Fri)	0.51	-4%	68	91	78	70
AVERAGE:		AVERAGE:	80	hit(Fri)
CAREER:		CAREER:	398	utility

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

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 10/21/20

FINALS UPDATE: Big Brother (1.0), The Amazing Race (0.7), American Ninja Warrior (0.5) and World Series (2.3, +0.5) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• ABC's Wednesday comedies became the first of the 'normal' fall scripted offerings to return, with a one-hour The Goldbergs (0.8) leading into relocated The Conners (0.9) and Black-ish (0.6). Goldbergs and Conners both matched their May finales, though Goldbergs looked a little better on a year-to-year basis (down two tenths from a 1.0 for last fall's premiere). Black-ish was up from its last few spring results, but had a similar year-to-year decline as The Conners. The comedies seemed to help out documentary The Con (0.5), which grew by two tenths vs. last week when it had a movie lead-in.
  

• NBC's The Wall (0.6) and American Ninja Warrior (0.4) both kicked off new Wednesday runs, with the latter taking a rough hit. The CBS reality duo of Big Brother (0.9) and The Amazing Race (0.6) edged down from last week, while the World Series Game 2 prelims (2.1/1.6/1.7) looked similar to Game 1.
  

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 10/20/20

FINALS UPDATE: The Bachelorette (1.2), The Voice (1.1) and World Series (2.4, +0.6) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Week two of The Bachelorette (1.1/1.0) and the two-hour Tuesday premiere of The Voice (1.0/1.1) went head-to-head and were in a dead heat in adults 18-49. The former dropped significantly from last week's premiere, but still demolished The Voice in adults 18-34 (1.1 to 0.5). The Voice helped lift Transplant (0.6) to a new series high at 10/9c.
  

• Against the reality clash, Fox led the way with Game 1 of the World Series (2.1/1.7/1.5), but it was down significantly from last year's 2.9 prelim for Game 1. The CW's Swamp Thing had a preliminary 0.1 for the first time (after adjusting down to it last week).
  

The War of 18-49, Bull

Michael Weatherly Follows His Former Show

Coming into fall 2016, CBS tentpole NCIS had led directly into one of its spin-offs for seven straight seasons (five of Los Angeles and two of New Orleans). The streak came to an end in 2016-17, but Bull was about as close to a spin-off as CBS could get, as it had the well-known NCIS star Michael Weatherly. And Bull fit in with NCIS about as well as the spin-offs had; it had a lower Plus, but that was largely because NCIS itself was past its peak by this point. On premiere night, Bull (2.2) actually matched NCIS (2.2), but it dropped to 1.9 and 1.6 the next two weeks and was at least a couple tenths behind NCIS going forward. In the fall, Bull usually hit mid-1's leading out of a high-1's NCIS; by the spring, it was more like low-1's after mid-1's.

 Both shows dipped some the next season, but Bull had a much better trajectory in season two; it started with a 1.3 (down 43% from the previous premiere) and stayed in the low-1's the whole way, never going fractional as an NCIS lead-out. By the spring, Bull was often very close to even in raw numbers year-to-year.

The Monday/Thursday Moves

After two seasons, it was Bull's turn to give up the cushy post-NCIS timeslot, and its destination was Monday at 10/9c to replace the cancelled Scorpion. Like the NCIS spin-offs before it, it took a major hit in the ratings with this move, but it was still a fine performer for a CBS 10/9c drama. It's also never had a lot of help in the 10/9c hour; in season three, it mostly hit 0.8's and 0.9's following the middling newbie Magnum P.I., and collapsed to 0.6 in the spring after bomb The Code.

In season four, it joined another legal drama, albeit a pretty shaky one, in All Rise. Bull matched and sometimes beat its lead-in, posting a pretty steady diet of 0.6's and 0.7's and perking up to 0.7's in the spring thanks to the COVID-19 viewing inflation. It returned to the Monday slot (once again after All Rise) for season five, but after a year of decline it was shipped off to the Thursday 10/9c hour in 2021-22, where it took another decline and ended after six seasons.

Adults 18-49 info by season:

Seas	Year	Slot	Avg	y2y	Lo	Hi	Results	Grade
1	2016-17	Tuesday 9:00	1.42		1.1	2.2	detail	B
2	2017-18		Tuesday 9:00	1.19	-16%	1.0	1.3	detail	B-
3	2018-19	Monday 10:00	0.75	-37%	0.6	0.9	detail	C
4	2019-20		Monday 10:00	0.64	-15%	0.5	0.7	detail	B-
5	2020-21		Monday 10:00	0.46	-28%	0.4	0.5	detail	C
6	2021-22	Thursday 10:00	0.34	-27%	0.2	0.4	detail	C

Historical-adjusted ratings by season:

Seas	Year	A18-49+	Label	Now22	y2y	Lo	Hi	Premiere	Finale
1	2016-17	116	solid	0.59		87	181	181	87
2	2017-18	108	solid	0.55	-6%	93	122	115	114
3	2018-19	79	marginal	0.40	-27%	63	93	92	73
4	2019-20	78	marginal	0.40	-1%	66	88	84	79
5	2020-21	71	marginal	0.36	-8%	60	84	67	68
6	2021-22	66	flop	0.34	-8%	49	82	69	63
AVERAGE:		AVERAGE:	86	marginal
CAREER:		CAREER:	518	staple

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

Spotted Ratings, Monday 10/19/20

FINALS UPDATE: Dancing with the Stars (0.8, -0.2), Emergency Call (0.4) and LA's Finest (0.6, -0.3) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• A later-than-usual return for The Voice (1.2) put NBC on top of Monday night, though it was down roughly 30% from last year's fall premiere. The show also helped Weakest Link (0.8), now in a new Monday 10/9c slot, to rebound from last week's ugliness.
  

• Despite more NBC competition, ABC at least preliminarily edged back up with Dancing with the Stars (1.0) and Emergency Call (0.5), while CBS' Big Brother (0.9) and One Day At a Time (0.2/0.2) were down.
  

• Fox had a COVID-delayed NFL game in the late afternoon and running slightly into primetime, distorting the early numbers for LA's Finest (0.9) and Filthy Rich (0.4).

SpotVault - Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (ABC) - Fall 2020 Ratings

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire

Sundays, 9/8c, ABC

SpotVault - The Voice (NBC) - 2020-21 Ratings

The Voice

Mondays, 8/7c, NBC

SpotVault - Supermarket Sweep (ABC) - Fall 2020 Ratings

Supermarket Sweep

Sundays, 8/7c, ABC

SpotVault - Shark Tank (ABC) - 2020-21 Ratings

Shark Tank

Fridays, 8/7c, ABC

SpotVault - Card Sharks (ABC) - Fall 2020 Ratings

Card Sharks

Sundays, 10/9c, ABC

SpotVault - America's Funniest Home Videos (ABC) - 2020-21 Ratings

America's Funniest Home Videos

Sundays, 7/6c, ABC

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 10/18/20

FINALS UPDATE: America's Funniest Home Videos (0.6), 60 Minutes (0.9), Sunday Night Football (3.7, +0.9), NFL Overrun (6.1, +1.5), The OT (3.2), NLCS (2.9, +1.0) and Whose Line Is It Anyway? (R) (0.1) adjusted up while Mom (R) (0.2), Football Night in America p2 (1.2, -0.3) and Football Night in America p3 (2.1, -0.7) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Against a lot of sports competition, ABC managed a solid 1.0 for the premiere of its Supermarket Sweep (1.0) revival. Among ABC's recent unscripted forays in the Sunday 8/7c timeslot in the fall, this was definitely the most promising start, up a tenth on last year's Kids Say the Darndest Things premiere (which was itself way above Dancing with the Stars: Juniors from the previous year). It had surprisingly little help from the 7/6c premiere of America's Funniest Home Videos (0.5), down about a third year-to-year.
  

• The ABC night fell off pretty sharply after Sweep, as the return of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (0.6) was considerably down from the 0.9's it was usually pulling even at the end of its spring/early summer run, and Card Sharks (0.4) returned after more than a year off with a new series low at 10/9c.
  

• Fox's animation was preempted in favor of Game 7 of the NLCS (2.2/1.7/1.7), which lost head-to-head against Sunday Night Football (3.1/3.1/2.4) but still pulled it down to its lowest prelims of the season.
  

The War of 18-49, American Housewife

Meshing With Long-Running Comedies

Family comedy American Housewife came on the scene with ABC's family comedy brand still near its height, and Housewife itself was part of an aggressive move into Tuesday night alongside the longtime Wednesday veteran The Middle. The two proved to be a very solid pair. Housewife launched with a 1.9 demo, building on its 1.8 Middle lead-in, and built on The Middle for the next several weeks thereafter. As the season wore on, the pair dipped into the mid- and then low-1's, and Housewife was generally even with or barely below The Middle, but the two gave ABC a stronger starting point on Tuesday than they had in previous years.

In season two, Housewife was shipped to Wednesday, the night where the comedy brand had originally taken off, and aired after former megahit Modern Family. Though it was a bigger lead-in, Housewife didn't seem to get much benefit. It spent most of the season in the low-1's, while Modern Family was at least a few ticks higher on average. For season three, Housewife once again had to vacate so that a newbie could launch in its timeslot, and it spent the fall of 2018 in the 8:30 slot between The Goldbergs and Modern Family.

Tougher Tasks

The timeslot moves kept coming for American Housewife. In winter 2019, the show was asked to lead off on Tuesday, taking over the spot vacated by short-order comedy The Conners, and it was inevitably doomed to look much worse by comparison. It posted a couple 0.9's and a 1.0 early in its Tuesday return, but drifted down to 0.8 in the spring.

In fall 2019, American Housewife was sent to the lead-off role on Friday, where it had perhaps its most impressive run since season one, posting some 0.7's and 0.6's and handily outperforming what Fresh Off the Boat did as the Friday anchor a year previous. But even that couldn't last; since Modern Family was coming to an early end, American Housewife was called back to Wednesday to inherit its longtime 9/8c timeslot. Airing between the ultimately cancelled Schooled and Single Parents, American Housewife was mostly stuck at 0.6, and didn't particularly seem to benefit from the viewing upswing during COVID-19 lockdowns. However, it was still enough for another renewal, and American Housewife made one last move in the fall of 2020, back to its fall 2018 home of Wednesday at 8:30. It had better ratings but mediocre retention of The Goldbergs, and so its long journey came to an end.

Adults 18-49 info by season:

Seas	Year	Slot	Avg	y2y	Lo	Hi	Results	Grade
1	2016-17	Tuesday 8:30	1.41		1.1	1.8	detail	B+
2	2017-18	Wednesday 9:30	1.21	-14%	0.9	1.6	detail	C+
3	2018-19	Wed 8:30, Tue 8:00	0.91	-25%	0.7	1.2	detail	C+
4	2019-20	Fri 8:00, Wed 9:00	0.59	-36%	0.5	0.7	detail	C+
5	2020-21	Wednesday 8:30	0.55	-7%	0.4	0.6	detail	C

Historical-adjusted ratings by season:

Seas	Year	A18-49+	Label	Now21	y2y	Lo	Hi	Premiere	Finale
1	2016-17	115	solid	0.74		88	151	151	97
2	2017-18	110	solid	0.71	-4%	82	146	146	97
3	2018-19	96	marginal	0.62	-13%	72	130	130	72
4	2019-20	72	solid(Fri)	0.46	-25%	60	89	89	78
5	2020-21	85	marginal	0.55	+19%	70	101	101	73
AVERAGE:		AVERAGE:	96	marginal
CAREER:		CAREER:	479	utility

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

Spotted Ratings, Friday 10/16/20

FINALS UPDATE: Dateline (0.5) and WWE SmackDown! (0.6) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• ABC's Shark Tank (0.6) returned to top Friday night, and while a long way from the heights of its surge during the early weeks of the pandemic, it was still just a tenth behind last year's fall premiere on a Sunday.
  

• In its season premiere, Fox's WWE SmackDown! (0.5) was actually down from recent weeks, while Undercover Boss (0.4) on CBS rebounded a bit.
  

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 10/15/20

FINALS UPDATE: The Vice President and the People (3.0, +0.4), Emergency Call (R) (0.7), Big Brother (1.0), Decision 2020: Trump Town Hall (2.2, +0.5) and NLCS (1.5, +0.8) adjusted up while Dateline (R) (0.3) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• On a night of dueling presidential town halls, two hours of Joe Biden on ABC had a big edge on Donald Trump's 8/7c hour on NBC in the young adult demos (2.6 to 1.7 in A18-49, 1.9 to 1.1 in A18-34), but the older-skewing Trump event narrowed the gap noticeably in total viewers (12.229m to 10.386m). The Trump event was also simulcast on MSNBC and CNBC.
  

• ABC aired a repeat of Emergency Call (0.6) at 10/9c, while NBC followed its event with two episodes of Connecting... (0.5/0.2).
  

• Fox was on the map with the NLCS (0.7/0.7/0.8), and the CW's Supernatural (0.3) was down a notch from last week's big premiere.
  

SpotVault - The Amazing Race (CBS) - 2020-21 Ratings

The Amazing Race

Wednesdays, 8/7c, CBS

SpotVault - The Bachelorette (ABC) - 2020-21 Ratings

The Bachelorette

Tuesdays, 8/7c, ABC

SpotVault - One Day At a Time (CBS) - Fall 2020 Ratings

One Day At a Time

Mondays, 9/8c, CBS

SpotVault - Fear the Walking Dead (AMC) - Fall 2020 Ratings

Fear the Walking Dead

Sundays, 9/8c, AMC

SpotVault - The Outpost (CW) - Fall 2020 Ratings

The Outpost

Sundays, 9/8c, CW

SpotVault - Connecting... (NBC) - Fall 2020 Ratings

Connecting...

Thursdays, 8/7c, NBC

SpotVault - Swamp Thing (CW) - Fall 2020 Ratings

Swamp Thing

Tuesdays, 8/7c, CW

SpotVault - NEXT (Fox) - 2020-21 Ratings

NEXT

Tuesdays, 9/8c, Fox

SpotVault - Ellen's Game of Games (NBC) - Fall 2020 Ratings

Ellen's Game of Games

Mondays, 8/7c, NBC

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 10/14/20

FINALS UPDATE: The Masked Singer (1.7) and I Can See Your Voice (1.1) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Numbers posted.

The War of 18-49, Riverdale

A Quiet Opening Season

Teen soap Riverdale found itself a bit out of place on a CW network overtaken by superhero dramas, and so the network launched it at midseason after the top-tier CW show with the most female-skewing audience: Supernatural. In the early weeks, the two shows seemed like a decent fit; Riverdale premiered on 1/26/2017 with a 0.5 demo after Supernatural's 0.6, and after downticking in week two the show eked out another 0.5 in week three. But the show seemed to be tapering off as the spring hit, first with a series of low 0.4's and then a bunch of 0.3's starting in April, usually two tenths behind Supernatural. By CW newbie standards, that was good enough for a renewal, but scheduling it for the Wednesday lead-off slot in fall 2017 seemed a bit ambitious at the time.

The Huge Sophomore Bounce

But after a summer of streaming exposure on Netflix, Riverdale came back for season two as a completely different show. After spending its rookie campaign in the 0.3 to 0.5 range, it opened season two with a whooping 0.8 demo. It would never hit those heights again, but after a fall to 0.6 in week two it held there for a couple weeks, then stayed at 0.5 for the rest of the fall, which meant the year-to-year growth was enormous. Though it kept slipping in the second half of the season, it was still mostly hitting upper-0.4's, a full tenth ahead of its worst days from the previous season. It was a bonafide part of the upper tier on the CW in adults 18-49, and that's not even getting to its huge DVR audience and incredibly strong appeal among the young female portion of the demo.

A Fast Decline 

Riverdale was still pretty robust even through the fall portion of season three, mostly hitting high 0.4's and even sprinkling in some 0.5's as late as the winter premiere. But the spring of 2019 was when things started to get a little alarming, with a March dip into the low 0.3's and then the high 0.2's. The full season Plus average was still well above season one, and it still had the big DVRing and young female skew. But by the spring, in Plus it was starting to look a lot like that mediocre post-Supernatural performer from two years prior.

The painful spring 2019 drops returned in season four. It had a surprisingly strong 0.42 season premiere, but beyond that it was a bunch of 0.2's and the occasional 0.3. Year-to-year drops of around 40% were the norm, and that took it to essentially a middle-of-the-road performer on the network, with its Plus dipping below season one to a new series low. But with plenty of other problem areas on the network, the fifth season of Riverdale (slated for 2021 due to coronavirus production delays) will get to lead off on Wednesday yet again.

Adults 18-49 info by season:

Seas	Year	Slot	Avg	y2y	Lo	Hi	Results	Grade
1	2017	Thursday 9:00	0.38		0.3	0.5	detail	C+
2	2017-18	Wednesday 8:00	0.49	+29%	0.3	0.8	detail	A
3	2018-19		Wednesday 8:00	0.36	-27%	0.2	0.5	detail	C
4	2019-20		Wednesday 8:00	0.22	-38%	0.2	0.4	detail	D
5	2021		Wednesday 8:00	0.11	-51%	0.0	0.2	detail	C-
6	2021-22	Sun 8:00, Tue 9:00	0.05	-50%	0.0	0.1	detail	D
7	2023	Wednesday 9:00	0.05	-10%	0.0	0.1	detail	C

Historical-adjusted ratings by season:

Seas	Year	A18-49+	Label	Now23	y2y	Lo	Hi	Premiere	Finale
1	2017	31	marginal(CW)	0.13		24.80	40	40	32.42
2	2017-18	45	hit(CW)	0.19	+45%	31.40	73	73	40.26
3	2018-19	38	solid(CW)	0.16	-15%	25.25	55	55	29.46
4	2019-20	27	marginal(CW)	0.12	-28%	19.53	51	51	23.19
5	2021	17	flop	0.07	-38%	7.76	25	22	12.41
6	2021-22	11	flop	0.05	-36%	5.88	22	22	7.84
7	2023	12	flop	0.05	+8%	7.04	19	14	14.07
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, Tuesday 10/13/20

FINALS UPDATE: The Bachelorette (1.4), Celebrity Family Feud (0.7), NFL Football (3.0, +0.3) and Ellen's Game of Games (0.5) adjusted up while Swamp Thing (0.1) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• ABC's The Bachelorette had a good start to its fall 2020 run with a 1.3 in A18-49 and a whooping 1.2/1.3 in adults 18-34, in line with its summer 2019 premiere (1.4 A18-49, 1.2 A18-34). A special Celebrity Family Feud (0.6) rounded out the night at 10/9c.
  

• CBS dominated with another virus-delayed NFL game in primetime (2.8/2.7) leading into The FBI Declassified (0.9) which started just after 10:00 ET.
  

• Against way more Tuesday competition, it was a brutal night for the NBC lineup, with Weakest Link (0.6) and Ellen's Game of Games (0.4) each down multiple tenths and Transplant (0.3) also falling again. Fox's Cosmos: Possible Worlds and NEXT each held at 0.3, while the CW got a second week at 0.2 out of Swamp Thing.
  

Spotted Ratings, Monday 10/12/20

FINALS UPDATE: Big Brother (1.0) and NLCS (1.2, +0.4) adjusted up while Dateline (0.4) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• CBS had a quiet start to its rebroadcast of Pop comedy One Day at a Time (0.3/0.3), dropping by two thirds from its Big Brother lead-in (0.9). Manhunt: Deadly Games returned from a week off and was stuck at 0.2 at 10/9c.
  

• ABC's Dancing with the Stars (0.9) and Emergency Call (0.4) topped a stronger-looking American Ninja Warrior (0.6) and Dateline (0.5) on NBC, but both networks might be affected a bit by football preemptions. And Fox had a rare night of Monday competitiveness with Game 1 of the NLCS (0.9/0.8/0.8).
  

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 10/11/20

FINALS UPDATE: NBA Finals (3.2, +1.0), NBA Finals Postgame (2.4, +1.0), NFL Overrun (6.6, +1.9), 60 Minutes (1.7, +0.5), 60 Minutes (R) (0.6) and Sunday Night Football (4.2, +1.0) adjusted up while NBA Countdown (0.4, -1.0), Football Night in America p2 (0.6, -0.9), Football Night in America p3 (2.0, -1.1) and The Simpsons (R) (0.3) adjusted down.

The War of 18-49, This Is Us

A Megahit Drama Is Born

In its first two weeks, NBC's new family drama This Is Us actually aired at 10/9c and posted 2.8 and 2.6 demo ratings, dropping by roughly 20% from its The Voice lead-ins (3.4/3.3).  It looked like a promising new drama, certainly one of the strongest in a long line of post-Voice launches, but at that point it was not immediately clear that it was much stronger than previous examples like The Blacklist and Blindspot (both of which also had over a 200 Plus on premiere night).

But when it returned at 9/8c for its third episode (after taking a week off due to a political debate preemption), This Is Us looked stronger than ever, getting back to a 2.8 and now building on its The Voice lead-in (2.6). It trickled down for a few weeks after that, but kept building on Voice, and it ended the fall on a strong note with a 2.7 and 2.8. Its value became even clearer when it returned to the mid- to high-2's for its winter run, mostly airing after a much weaker The Wall, and it ended a sensational first season with two series highs (3.0 -> 3.4) after The Voice returned. That left it with a 218 Plus, making it one of the strongest scripted new series of the last generation (behind only Empire (303) and Desperate Housewives (262)).

The Season Two Peak

As the focal point of NBC's marketing going into fall 2017, This Is Us returned to a phenomenal 3.9 demo, a half point above its previous high. That level of interest was short-lived, as it fell to 3.1 and 2.8 in the next two weeks, but it still settled at roughly even in raw numbers throughout season two, allowing it to take a big uptick in Plus. Every episode in season two except for Halloween night had over a 200 Plus. The show also did big business for a post-Super Bowl episode with major storyline implications in February 2018 (9.2), though that exposure didn't make any difference to its regular Tuesday ratings.

The Decline Phase

This Is Us had another nice surge for its season three premiere, ekeing out a 3.0, though of course that was down close to 25% from the 3.9 a year ago. That rate of decline actually ended up being pretty representative of the whole season going forward; it fell in a similar fashion post-premiere to a 2.4 the next week, and settled around 2.0 for most of the fall. With the winter/spring run pushed a few weeks later, it mostly had high-1's and experienced some of its most severe year-to-year declines. The show's Plus fell all the way to slightly below season one levels, but it still managed a third megahit season.

Season four brought another round of similar-sized declines. It had less of a premiere surge (1.8) but also didn't fall quite as much, settling in the mid-1's for most of the way. This would've been a smaller decline in Plus, but the broadcast league average improved in the spring due to COVID-19-related viewing upswings. With the This Is Us season ending on March 24, it didn't get much opportunity to take advantage of that inflation itself, though the season finale (1.73) did post the second-biggest rating of the season. It was among the earliest 'regular' dramas to return in the COVID-plagued 2020-21 season, and a slew of scheduling interruptions and delays kept it on its negative trajectory.

The series did end on a pretty good note, turning back in a narrowly positive direction for the sixth and final season to ensure that all six seasons would finish in big hit territory. This is actually quite a rare achievement for a big broadcast drama, allowing it to finish as the biggest veteran drama final season of the Plus era (edging Lost by a single point).

Adults 18-49 info by season:

Seas	Year	Slot	Avg	y2y	Lo	Hi	Results	Grade
1	2016-17	Tuesday 9:00	2.67		2.3	3.4	detail	A
2	2017-18		Tuesday 9:00	2.71	+1%	2.0	3.9	detail	A
3	2018-19		Tuesday 9:00	2.01	-26%	1.7	3.0	detail	C+
4	2019-20		Tuesday 9:00	1.48	-27%	1.1	1.8	detail	C+
5	2020-21		Tuesday 9:00	1.01	-31%	0.8	1.4	detail	C
6	2022		Tuesday 9:00	0.82	-19%	0.7	1.3	detail	B+

Historical-adjusted ratings by season:

Seas	Year	A18-49+	Label	Now22	y2y	Lo	Hi	Premiere	Finale
1	2016-17	218	megahit	1.11		186	274	229	274
2	2017-18	247	megahit	1.26	+13%	185	356	356	253
3	2018-19	212	megahit	1.08	-14%	176	313	313	196
4	2019-20	180	big hit	0.92	-15%	140	225	225	211
5	2020-21	157	big hit	0.80	-13%	123	219	219	126
6	2022	161	big hit	0.82	+3%	131	249	206	249
AVERAGE:		AVERAGE:	196	big hit
CAREER:		CAREER:	1176	star

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

Spotted Ratings, Friday 10/9/20

FINALS UPDATE: NBA Finals (3.2, +1.2) adjusted up while Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night (0.6, -0.7) and NBA Countdown (0.7, -0.6) adjusted down.

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 10/8/20

FINALS UPDATE: Match Game (0.4), Big Brother (1.0) and Thursday Night Football (4.5, +1.5) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC got almost no interest in new socially distant comedy Connecting... (0.3), and even less for a Seth Meyers special at 8:30 (0.2).
  

• Against the return of Thursday Night Football (2.6/3.2/3.1) to Fox, ABC's game show trio (0.7/0.5/0.3) was down a tenth.

• And the CW had a strong return for Supernatural (0.4) as it began its final run of episodes, matching its fall premiere from a year ago. But it was no help to the season three premiere of usual summer staple The Outpost (0.1).
  

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 10/7/20

FINALS UPDATE: ABC Vice Presidential Debate (2.2, +0.3), ABC Vice Presidential Debate Analysis (1.6, +0.3), Big Brother (1.0), CBS Vice Presidential Debate (1.1), CBS Vice Presidential Debate Analysis (0.8), NBC Vice Presidential Debate (1.6, +0.3), NBC Vice Presidential Debate Analysis (1.1), The Masked Singer (1.5) and Fox Vice Presidential Debate (1.2, +0.2) adjusted up while 20/20 Special (0.8) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Preliminary ratings for the four-network simulcast of the vice presidential debate (1.9 ABC, 1.0 CBS, 1.3 NBC, 1.1/1.0 Fox) were in total roughly 70% of the first presidential debate prelims from last week.
  

• In the 8/7c hour, The Masked Singer (1.4) was on top but lower than usual, beating out CBS' Big Brother (0.9) and another pre-debate edition of Weakest Link (0.8) on NBC. The CW began airing Italian acquisition Devils (0.1).
  

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 10/6/20

FINALS UPDATE: NBA Finals (2.9, +1.0), The FBI Declassified (0.4) and Ellen's Game of Games (0.7) adjusted up while Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night (0.6, -0.7) and NBA Countdown (0.8, -0.4) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Week two of NBC's Weakest Link (0.8) was the night's top entertainment program, despite a noticeable drop from its pre-debate premiere a week ago. It led into Ellen's Game of Games (0.6) and Transplant (0.4).
  

• Fox rounded out another night of 0.3's as new drama NEXT (0.3) debuted in the 9/8c hour, leading out of Cosmos: Possible Worlds (0.3). The CW got a decent start from DC Universe import Swamp Thing (0.2), while CBS introduced reality filler The FBI Declassified (0.4/0.3).
  

• Game 4 of the NBA Finals (1.9) on ABC improved by a few tenths on the Game 2/3 prelims.

Spotted Ratings, Monday 10/5/20

FINALS UPDATE: NFL Football (4.0, +0.7), Big Brother (0.9) and Decision 2020: Joe Biden Town Hall (0.7, +0.2) adjusted up while Emergency Call (0.5) and Penn and Teller: Fool Us (0.1) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Originally scheduled for late afternoon Sunday, CBS' Patriots/Chiefs NFL game (4.0/3.1) was bumped into Monday primetime for COVID reasons, and led into a special edition of Big Brother (0.8) at 10/9c.
  

• More Monday NFL than usual damaged the broadcast competitors. ABC's Dancing with the Stars (0.9) and Emergency Call (0.6) easily finished second, beating NBC with a Joe Biden town hall (0.5) and a 9/8c edition of American Ninja Warrior (0.4/0.3). Fox's LA Finest (0.3) ticked down again, matching its lead-out Filthy Rich (0.3).
  

Spotted Ratings, Sunday 10/4/20

FINALS UPDATE: NBA Finals (2.2, +0.7), NFL Overrun (5.3, +1.1) and Sunday Night Football (4.5, +1.0) adjusted up while NBA Countdown (0.4, -0.3), Black-ish (0.6, -0.2), 60 Minutes (1.6, -0.4), 60 Minutes (0.7), Football Night in America p2 (1.0, -0.8) and Football Night in America p3 (2.2, -1.1) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• With an early start time and head-to-head NFL competition, Game 3 of the NBA Finals (1.3/1.5/1.6) couldn't even do any better than the Game 2 prelims on Friday, and remained enormously down year-to-year. The game led into a one-hour Black-ish special (0.8), two and a half weeks before its regularly-scheduled return on Wednesdays. (The NBA coverage actually ran 14 minutes into the 10:00 hour.)
  

• Against the sports competition, the first non-NFL Sunday for Fox's cartoons (0.5/0.3/0.4/0.5) went low. CBS used its NFL overrun on two hours of 60 Minutes (2.7/1.3/0.9/0.6). And the CW brought back Pandora (0.1) for season two, just over a year after the season one finale.
  

Spotted Ratings, Friday 10/2/20

FINALS UPDATE: NBA Finals (2.4, +0.8) and WWE SmackDown! (0.6) adjusted up while Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night (0.5, -0.6) and NBA Countdown (0.6, -0.3) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Numbers posted.

SpotVault - Dateline (NBC) - 2020-21 Ratings

Dateline

Fridays, 9/8c, NBC

SpotVault - Weakest Link (NBC) - Fall 2020 Ratings

Weakest Link

Mondays, 10/9c, NBC

SpotVault - The Simpsons (Fox) - 2020-21 Ratings

The Simpsons

Sundays, 8/7c, Fox

Status: RENEWED for next season (confirmed on 3/3/2021)

SpotVault - Undercover Boss (CBS) - Fall 2020 Ratings

Undercover Boss

Fridays, 9/8c, CBS

SpotVault - Family Guy (Fox) - 2020-21 Ratings

Family Guy

Sundays, 9:30/8:30c, Fox

Status: RENEWED for next season (confirmed on 9/23/2020)

SpotVault - Emergency Call (ABC) - Fall 2020 Ratings

Emergency Call

Mondays, 10/9c, ABC

SpotVault - Bob's Burgers (Fox) - 2020-21 Ratings

Bob's Burgers

Sundays, 9/8c, Fox

Status: RENEWED for next season (confirmed on 9/23/2020)

SpotVault - Bless the Harts (Fox) - Fall 2020 Ratings

Bless the Harts

Sundays, 7:30/6:30c, Fox

Status: ENDING after this season (confirmed on 4/1/2021)

SpotVault - 20/20 (ABC) - 2020-21 Ratings

20/20

Fridays, 9/8c, ABC

Spotted Ratings, Thursday 10/1/20

FINALS UPDATE: Big Brother (1.2) and The Wall (0.5) adjusted up while Press Your Luck (0.6), Match Game (0.4), The Masked Singer (R) (0.4), Let's Be Real (0.4) and Family Guy (R) (0.2, -0.2) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Numbers posted.

Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 9/30/20

FINALS UPDATE: NBA Finals (2.9, +0.8), Ellen's Game of Games (R) (0.5), The Masked Singer (1.9, +0.2) and I Can See Your Voice (1.2) adjusted up while Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night (0.6, -0.5) and NBA Countdown (0.8, -0.2) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Numbers posted.