SpottedRatings.com

The Question, Wednesday 5/22/13: Can Fox Premiere Masterfully On a Night of Finales?

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:00:00 +0000

Many scripted season finales populate the final night of the 2012-13 regular season, but I'm opting for the biggest unknown: the return of Fox's Gordon Ramsay show MasterChef. It's been a bit weaker than Hell's Kitchen and stronger than So You Think You Can Dance, so I'm going in the middle of their respective 2.2 and 1.9 premieres this regular season. It has surprisingly little competition at 8:00, but it'll be hard-pressed to grow at 9:00 vs. the Modern Family/Criminal Minds/SVU finale gauntlet.

Over/Under: 2.05.

Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 5/21/13

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:54:00 +0000

WHAT MATTERS:

ABC bid farewell to the Tuesday edition of Dancing with the Stars (2.6) with a finale that preliminarily equaled Monday's episode (but will likely adjust up to 2.7, a tick higher). It should end up in the neighborhood of -20% year-to-year. It appears to have been hurt by all the musical reality competition in the 9:00 hour, as it spiked from a 2.3 at 9:30 up to a 2.7 at 10:00 and a 2.9 at 10:30.

Meanwhile, Fox's So You Think You Can Dance (1.9) held even week-to-week in its first two-hour edition of the season and didn't seem to suffer against the competition at 9:00. And NBC led off with an Oklahoma-themed news special (2.0), which matched last week's The Voice recap and easily handled ABC's competing special about The Bachelor (1.2).

Above based on preliminary adults 18-49 ratings unless otherwise noted. Full table forthcoming!

The True Top 25, Week Ending 5/19/13 (2012-13 Week 34)

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:33:00 +0000

In the last full week of the 2012-13 season, The Big Bang Theory had one last big win, spiking in the True2 numbers thanks to greater competition than usual. Once the TV event of the season, Thursday's finale of American Idol was a very distant second and could've easily been even lower. Several other shows like NCIS, How I Met Your Mother and The Office were hugely above average thanks to impressive finale bumps.

The season finale of Shark Tank finished off an incredible season with one last berth to represent Friday night programming, while a very impressive penultimate week of Chicago Fire managed to eke out a spot for the underwhelming new class of 2012-13. The return of So You Think You Can Dance managed the #24 spot (with the Tuesday premiere just a hundredth behind at #26).
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Spotted Ratings, Sunday 5/19/13

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:03:00 +0000

WHAT MATTERS:

Awards shows remain one of the best (only?) ways the broadcast networks can draw viewers to Sunday. ABC's Billboard Music Awards were up a whooping 30% from last year's 2.7 and the show's biggest rating since December 2003 (when it aired on Fox). They nearly doubled last week's ABC drama finales. CBS curiously aired an ACM Tim McGraw special against it and didn't do much.

The other two networks wrapped up their seasons of Sunday entertainment programs with Celebrity Apprentice only barely growing week-to-week and Fox hosting one-hour finales for The Cleveland Show, The Simpsons and Family Guy. The last two were close to even year-to-year, but Celebrity Apprentice was down huge from last year's 2.2.

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Spotted Ratings, Saturday 5/18/13

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

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Spotted Ratings, Friday 5/17/13

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:56:00 +0000

WHAT MATTERS:

It was mostly an unscripted game on the season's last Friday, with ABC comfortably winning thanks to two hours of Shark Tank and 20/20. The 8:00 episode in a special hour was way below average, but it still held off CBS' Undercover Boss, which was similarly weak.

Most of the Friday scripted excitement either wrapped up earlier or got moved to another night; the finale of Nikita was the only scripted original, though it held its 0.4 in finals to pull off a +100% week-to-week.

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The Question, Tuesday 5/21/13: Will the Dancing Finale Get a Gold Star?

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:00:00 +0000

Tonight brings what may be the last-ever airing of Dancing with the Stars on Tuesday night. While the last couple Dancing finales have spiked to 3.0+ from seasons in the 2's, those finales also completely avoided The Voice. This one has to face it head-to-head in the 9:00 hour, along with So You Think You Can Dance. However, DWTS may draw more of those viewers than normal since The Voice's season still has a few weeks to go. That seemed to be in play for Monday's airing, which grew to a preliminary 2.5.

Over/Under: 2.75.

Spotted Ratings, Monday 5/20/13

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:50:00 +0000

WHAT MATTERS:

The last Monday of the regular season was highlighted by the transition to summer, as ABC premiered Motive (1.4) in the 10:00 hour and Fox began its burn-off of The Goodwin Games (0.7). Motive will have to hope to stay near that level in its regular Thursday slot, and the best case to make for that actually happening is that ABC mostly promoted the show's Thursday premiere rather than last night's "preview."

With the finale tonight, ABC had a nice final Monday bounce from Dancing with the Stars (2.5).

Above based on preliminary adults 18-49 ratings unless otherwise noted. Full table forthcoming!

2013 Fall Matchups

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:30:00 +0000

For a fourth straight year, here's a lineup of every timeslot (except Saturdays) and some really quick reactions to how the matchups look. Here are the previous editions: 2010 | 2011 | 2012
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The Question, Monday 5/20/13: Will Viewers Find a Motive to Watch ABC This Summer?

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:00:00 +0000

Two summer scripted programs premiere tonight, but ABC's Canadian co-production Motive is the one with an actual realistic shot. The promos are generic; a new murder every week? Mind blown!! But if there's anywhere you want to premiere a generic procedural on ABC, it's after Dancing with the Stars. I seriously doubt this'll be able to sniff at Castle numbers, but it should be able to sniff at Body of Proof numbers, at least for the first episode.

Over/Under: 1.45.

The Question Results Through 5/16/13

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Sun, 19 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000

With three games to go in the regular season (one each on Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday), the top spot is not quite clinched yet and the race for third place is even more up in the air! Here are the results and individual standings through May 16 for the ratings prediction game The Question:
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2013 Upfront Answers, General Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:00:00 +0000

All of this week's Upfront Answers: NBC | Fox | ABC | CBS | CW

Thanks so much to everyone for reading, commenting, linking and RTing all of this upfront stuff. It keeps getting so much bigger every year, which is hugely flattering. I'll have my annual super-quick look at the matchups next week, but this post is the "official" end of the upfront coverage. Here are some final thoughts on the week as a whole:

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Spotted Ratings, Thursday 5/16/13

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:40:00 +0000

WHAT MATTERS:

The finale of American Idol adjusted up in finals to a 3.6 demo, down a ridiculous 44% from last season's final episode. As I said yesterday, don't crucify the show over this individual point, because most Idol finales have faced almost no competition, and this one faced a ton. This was roughly what most of you expected, actually. Crucify it over the fact that it's been down a third or more year-to-year even in recent weeks when it faced almost no competition. Either way, it will not be a fun off-season for the Fox brass as they try to stabilize this sinking ship.

Meanwhile, NBC sent off The Office at easily its highest level of the season. It's the show's best rating since the middle of last season. And the 8:00 retrospective special was close to in line with the season's original average (and a big improvement over the usual 8/7c occupants). But the bigger lead-in didn't help Hannibal at all in a special 10:15-starting episode.

Big finale nights on the other networks were a bit underwhelming, surely due to the hefty competition. For the fourth time in six years The Big Bang Theory was down week-to-week for its season finale (though just by a single tick following a huge finals adjustment), while a two-hour Elementary, Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, The Vampire Diaries and Beauty and the Beast were all only about even week-to-week.

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The Question, Thursday 5/16/13: How Many Huge Finales Can Broadcast Stuff Into One Night?

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:00:00 +0000

Welcome to Finale Night in America! Somehow the season finales for TV's #1 show, TV's long-time former #1 show, TV's hottest show, the CW's biggest hit and the series finale of NBC's most successful scripted show of the last decade all managed to converge on one fateful evening. (Oh yeah, and Grey's Anatomy, Elementary and Beauty and the Beast too. Plus, how will Hannibal do with an Office series finale lead-in? Gahhh!!!) Maybe this is just the kind of night that brings scores of people back to broadcast TV, or maybe this glut means that some shows are bound to get lost in the shuffle. How many huge finales can broadcast stuff into one night? That's The Question for Thursday, May 16, 2013.
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Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 5/15/13

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:52:00 +0000

WHAT MATTERS:

ABC's three renewed-for-next-season Wednesday anchors all swung back up from ugly week-ago dips, with Modern Family probably benefiting the most due to lessened Fox competition. The finales are next week!

Rather than airing directly against a singing competition like Tuesday's premiere, night two of So You Think You Can Dance actually got to air directly after one (American Idol), and the result was a solid uptick.

With no The Voice at 8/7c, the penultimate Law and Order: SVU fell back to earth, but Chicago Fire grew for a third straight week, building some momentum as it prepares to follow The Voice next season.

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2013 Upfront Answers, The CW

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:28:00 +0000

Last week, I asked "Upfront Questions" to preview each network's fall 2013 schedule. With the schedule now official, here are the "Upfront Answers"!

CW upfront previews: True Power Rankings | Upfront Questions

Other Upfront Answers: NBC | Fox | ABC | CBS | CW

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First Two Weeks, Family Tools

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:33:00 +0000

WEEK ONE
The last significantly in-season newbie of the season was ABC's Family Tools, which began its run after The Middle (2.0) with 5.79 million viewers and a 1.5 demo on May 1. If this were several weeks into the run, I guess it wouldn't be absolutely awful; in fact, it was the same number as renewed The Neighbors' finale. But doing that for a series premiere is pretty bad and left no cushion for a drop. (Of course that assumes it had any real chance to begin with.)

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Spotted Ratings, Tuesday 5/14/13

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:53:00 +0000

WHAT MATTERS:

Another finale-filled night of scripted programming saw minor week-to-week bumps from NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles and no bumps from New Girl and The Mindy Project.

The nets continued their early transition to summer as Fox brought back So You Think You Can Dance, down by 21% from last year's premiere on the first day of summer. It was ahead of pretty much the whole half of the last SYTYCD season, but this has become a show that always falls off a lot in the second half. And ABC again got almost nothing out of former summer powerhouse Wipeout.

NBC shrank The Voice back to an hour but aired a recap special at 8/7c which actually edged SYTYCD. The original The Voice and Grimm continued their gradual deterioration.

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Spotted Ratings, Monday 5/13/13

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:42:00 +0000

WHAT MATTERS:

It was a positive finale night for scripted programs as Castle, 2 Broke Girls and Mike and Molly all did at least a little better than in recent weeks. But the big winner was How I Met Your Mother, which surged all the way back to about its February level on its big reveal night. The only weak finale was also the only series finale: the CW's 90210, which went just as utterly ignored as has most of this season.

Fox continued its slog through the post-Bones/The Following portion of May sweeps, this time airing two hours of Hell's Kitchen. That reality logjam may have helped cause further damage to The Voice, down a few more ticks even with a finals uptick.

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2013 Upfront Answers, CBS

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:31:00 +0000

Last week, I asked "Upfront Questions" to preview each network's fall 2013 schedule. With the schedule now official, here are the "Upfront Answers"!

CBS upfront previews: True Power Rankings | Upfront Questions

Other Upfront Answers: NBC | Fox | ABC | CBS | CW

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The True Top 25, Week Ending 5/12/13 (2012-13 Week 33)

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Week 33 was probably one of the "fullest-strength" weeks of the season, with almost all the heavy hitters still in play and some posting stronger-than-usual finale numbers. I'm not sure there's been a week when the bar to make the True Top 25 was as high as the 2.47 from this week. (But feel free to check the last 32 posts if so inclined!) Several shows like Saturday's NASCAR, New Girl and The Middle hung numbers that would've made the list almost any other week, but not this time.

The Big Bang Theory was tops, then The Voice, then Modern Family, then as usual a group including Idol, NCIS, Grey's, Two and a Half Men and newly ascendant Scandal. Despite the higher bar, three Friday/Saturday shows still made the list, including a strong Undercover Boss and a Saturday NBA playoff game. But this was a rare week without a single new show. (Elementary's 2.16 would've made the list some weeks, but it was all the way down at 35th this time.)
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Spotted Ratings, Sunday 5/12/13

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:15:00 +0000

WHAT MATTERS:

The Sunday disappointment just keeps on coming. (As noted in network press releases, the overall viewing was oddly low on the night; Mother's Day dinners?) low on this evening, perhaps explaining ABC wrapped up Once Upon a Time with just one tenth of week-to-week growth, and the two-hour season finale of Revenge was actually down week-to-week. Both these shows were down around 30% year-to-year.

CBS was also a bit underwhelming with the season finale of Survivor, just a tick higher than the last Wednesday episode. It was down 7% year-to-year, a teeny bit better than the season average as a whole. And Survivor took a chunk out of fellow Mark Burnett show Celebrity Apprentice.

Survivor did end the three-week streak of Sunday supremacy for Game of Thrones (2.4), which took a significant dip week-to-week.

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Spotted Ratings, Saturday 5/11/13

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:10:00 +0000

WHAT MATTERS:

Each year ABC randomly gets a second-round NBA playoff game in Saturday primetime. The ratings were good as always, but this year's edition was a half point below last year's. The good news for ABC was that at least this one got counted as part of the regular season. (The NBA lockout last year pushed this telecast to the first Saturday of summer last year.) The NBA peaked in the 10:00 half-hour with a 2.6 rating.

Fox countered on a sporty Saturday with a solid NASCAR, down just a tenth from the year-ago race.

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Spotted Ratings, Friday 5/10/13

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:02:00 +0000

WHAT MATTERS:

While Undercover Boss rallied pretty much all the way back from last week's oddly low number, CBS sprung another leak in the 10:00 hour as the finale of Blue Bloods went two tenths below its season low point. Weird stuff always seems to happen at the end of the year on CBS Friday.

ABC topped Friday despite not getting any timeslot improvement from a weak 8/7c Shark Tank repeat. But the impressive combo of original Shark Tank and 20/20 did the trick.

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2013 Upfront Answers, ABC

noreply@blogger.com (Spot) — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:55:00 +0000

Last week, I asked "Upfront Questions" to preview each network's fall 2013 schedule. With the schedule now official, here are the "Upfront Answers"!

ABC's upfront previews: True Power Rankings | Upfront Questions

Other Upfront Answers: NBC | Fox | ABC | CBS | CW

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