Every Episode, Every Rating: The Completed Library

Welcome to TVRG's latest project -- Every Episode, Every Rating.  Daily Ratings, Renew/Cancel and year by year Historical Ratings data deliver overall data for several series.  Where Every Episode, Every Rating specializes is it profiles one show's continual data, either from start to ending, or from its beginning to the 2019-20 season.  In these articles, the seasonal and series highs and lows are colored out, as well as discussion of what happened relating to scheduling and behind the scenes woes.  Throughout 2020, watch out for new entries as the first profiled are the shows either delivering their season or series finales.  Following their profiles, more entries will be coming to this collection for shows from approximately 2009-present.  Enjoy, and either get reacquainted with your favorite shows or learn and read about new entries.

Please also visit the RATINGS HISTORY database to look for other shows not featured in this compilation.

Shows Covered Before They Ended

BROOKLYN 99 (2013-2022) 

MOM (2013-2021)

NCIS: LOS ANGELES (2009-2023)

NCIS: NEW ORLEANS (2014-2021)


SUPERSTORE (2015-2021)


THIS IS US (2016-2022)

NCIS: NEW ORLEANS -- Every Episode, Every Rating

NCIS: New Orleans bows out after another successful season (albeit 4 episodes shorter than  the usual due to the COVID-19 plague in 2020).  And still, it survived a dramatic timeslot change being shoved to the back of Sunday evenings to not only plug the (hemorrhaging) hole Madam Secretary left behind, but allow FBI to colonize Tuesday evening with spinoff FBI: Most Wanted.  Is CBS preparing to send NCIS: NO to a retirement home with an insulting downgrade, or perhaps is the durable NCIS chain CBS' key to recolonizing a tattered Sunday lineup?  Either way, NCIS: New Orleans is hanging tough and after an initial drop during its 2020 move, it is hanging tough and improving CBS Sundays.

Take a stroll through the chart and venture along NCIS: NO's venture from its prime development bed following original the NCIS flagship and migrating to a tougher evening.  Please note NCIS: New Orleans is anticipated to return for the 2020-21 season, and this data represents all shows prior to April 2020.  To see how Mom rated year to year against its competition, cruise through TVRG's Ratings History database as it has television data from 1950 through the present!



NCIS: New Orleans debuted in fall 2014 and bounced fellow NCIS spinoff NCIS: Los Angeles out of the plum Tuesday 9:00 timeslot following flagship NCIS (itself a spinoff of JAG).  While CBS forced NCIS: LA onto Monday evenings to make way for the latest baby NCIS spinoff.  And NCIS: New Orleans performed to expectations, debuting with a healthy 2.5 18-49 adult demographic rating and a 2.08 seasonal average.  The following season experienced a 15.9% drop with a 1.75 rating, in line with the average 10-20% seasonal drops associated with most seasons since 2007.  However, CBS upped the ante and decided to test NCIS: NO away from its parentship, sliding it back one hour to Tuesday 10:00 as Michael Weatherly felt like working on CBS again and delivered a load of Bull in NCIS: NO's former slot (disclosure: Bull is a sturdy fare and only a punchline due to being a four letter word).

Season 3 on the back end of CBS Tuesdays saw NCIS: New Orleans hemorrhage a third of its audience, ranging between 1.0-1.5 with a 1.17 average for the season.  A dramatic shift, as well as being saddled with a 10:00 timeslot change accounted for these losses.  Take great note that for this season and the prior, CBS saddled NCIS: New Orleans with 24 episodes per season, so this series was doing some heavy lifting on a tired schedule.  Season 4 again saw drops as NCIS: NO chipped its ratings tooth on its first rating below 1.0 on October 31, 2017.  The season average dropped to 0.95, dropping 18.8%.  Similar drops struck Season 5 as it ranged between 0.6-1.0, again dropping a similar 18.9%.  NCIS: New Orleans returned to its familiar timeslot for its 6th season in 2019, showing upward growth inching toward the holidays.

The new decade delivered an F-U to NCIS: NO as it was shoved into Madam Secretary's Sunday 10:00 timeslot following NCIS: Los Angeles, hemorrhagin almost half of the audience since its last showing.  However, NCIS: NO is no weak lilly, and hung through a soft winter.  COVID-19 shutting down America indeed trimmed down its episode order 4 episodes, but also facilitated mild bumps on the ratings front.  Nasty winters belted out 0.5 ratings, whereas springtime blooms pushed episodes to 0.6-0.7.  NCIS: NO joining NCIS: LA is foreshadowing a potential opportunity for CBS to allocate all three NCIS franchises to Sunday evenings.  With the FBI franchise bloodying up Tuesdays to decent ratings and God Friended Me officially cancelled (read about that HERE), CBS perhaps could be looking to reclaim Sundays and moving NCIS to God Friended Me's former timeslot.  No matter how viewers feel regarding these changes, they can rejoice the network values procedural spinoffs and appears to hand these jewels hearty runs with 9 seasons or more.  Those who question can cruise TVRG's Ratings Library and check out the CSI franchise's combined 34 seasons of programming from 2000-15.

To read about fellow spinoff NCIS: New Orleans' ratings for every episode, click HERE.  Also check out the EVERY EPISODE, EVERY RATING LIBRARY to see other shows profiled.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCIS:_New_Orleans_(season_1)
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCIS:_New_Orleans_(season_2)
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCIS:_New_Orleans_(season_3)
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCIS:_New_Orleans_(season_4)
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCIS:_New_Orleans_(season_5)
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCIS:_New_Orleans_(season_6)

MOM: Every Episode, Every Rating

April 16, 2020 marked an awkward finale for Mom.  With COVID-19 halting production on nearly every show, CBS did the same with Mom, resulting in two episodes being clipped.  Mom is known for delivering rewarding finales for nearly every season and was forced in Season 7 to end with an awkward mishap at a sober retreat.  However, fans can rest as Mom earned a two-season renewal in 2019, meaning it will be back well into spring 2021.  Take a stroll through all 152 episodes' ratings, as Mom had had its ups and downs since its rocky debut year.  Please note Mom is a returning show, so this table only holds data up through the 2019-20 television season.

To see how Mom rated year to year against its competition, cruise through TVRG's Ratings History database as it has television data from 1950 through the present!

2013-17 (Seasons 1-4)

2017-20 (Seasons 5-7)


Mom debuted as an afterthought on CBS' fall 2013 lineup, much like its fellow class of 2013 survivors, FOX/NBC's Brooklyn 99 and ABC's The Goldbergs.  [Click here to read about the details of SEASON 1]  It was housed on Mondays at 9:30 behind compatible 2 Broke Girls, and succeeded Mike & Molly in taking its known and beloved timeslot where it performed.  In early fall, fellow freshman pilot We Are Men nosedived and CBS pulled the plug.  2 Broke Girls was shifted forward 30 minutes, and on the bench (and less compatible) Mike & Molly returned at 9:00.  Mom struggled throughout its freshman season and stood with fellow freshman The Crazy Ones and aging Two and a Half Men in threat of cancellation.  CBS ultimately axed The Crazy Ones and decided to develop Mom further.

After some mild tweaks, SEASON 2 debuted directly behind The Big Bang Theory, resulting in record high ratings.  CBS' gift timeslot was short-lived as Mom was rotated that February to later timeslots, causing a noticeable drop by a half-point.  Mom's landmark season which gained 11.2% against usual losses, as well as CBS losing (former) heavyweight Two and a Half Men earned the series SEASON 3.  Mom settled at 9:00, sandwiched between pilot Life in Pieces and compatible 2 Broke Girls.  This season experienced an expected sharp drop, but also cemented Mom's place as a necessity on the schedule.  SEASON 4 again experienced drops, namely due to being housed with weaker company with freshman The Great Indoors and Life in Pieces.  The Great Outdoors was housed in the post-TBBT timeslot, which was used back then to develop new series.  Retention was weak, and it dragged Mom down with it.

After Mom matched and occasionally bested The Great Indoors, CBS moved it to Mondays and placed a TBBT repeat next to Mom, improving late season performances.  Season 5 delivered a hearty gift to Mom as Young Sheldon (the prequel to The Big Bang Theory) debuted a hit and bumped Mom's performance.  Mom only retained this season, which counted as gains against unilateral losses across broadcast television.  Young Sheldon and Mom remained paired for two seasons until TBBT made its glorious farewell in May 2019.  Following its exit, Young Sheldon shifted forward a half hour to lead the evening, leaving Mom to anchor the 9:00 hour.  Drops were massive as TBBT boosted CBS Thursdays with Mom losing a third of its audience.  However, it regularly placed 2nd in its timeslot, and is an essential show to maintaining CBS' block.  How will mom rate in 2020-21?  Let's hope it continues to remain a sturdy portion of the lineup.

Check out the EVERY EPISODE, EVERY RATING LIBRARY to see other shows profiled.

EMPIRE: Every Episode, Every Rating

All great shows come to an end.  Empire was one of the anomalies of the 2010's, as its debut season experienced extraordinary growth in its 12-episode run during one of the season's less-desirable times, growing 81.5% during its first 12 episodes.  Is it any surprise, considering it's alluring, beautiful cast?  For the males, Taraji J. Henson represented beauty and feist as phoenix Cookie  Lyon.  And for the ladies, Terence Howard channeled Laurence Fishburne's cool, collected and magnetic delivery as narcissistic Luscious Lyon.  Each season of course dropped lower and lower on trend with serialized shows, and unfortunately COVID-19 clipped two episodes off of season 6's final episodes.  Viewers can rejoice in at the least appreciating 102 episodes, and pray FOX values final sacraments and grants them two more episodes the next season to properly wrap a treacherous, beautiful run that was Empire.

To see how Empire rated year to year against its competition, cruise through TVRG's Ratings History database as it has television data from 1950 through the present!


Save for the 6th season, Empire was housed on Wednesday evenings and helped FOX reclaim the lead from ABC for the evening.  Its first compact season was scheduled from January through March as a mid-season entry, and it crackled.  Empire was one of the last runaway hits known to television which grew after its premiere.  The 1st season set a landmark record as all but one episode grew upon the last in Nielsens.  Given the serialized premise, the compact scheduling was ideal.  The finale struck a 6.9 rating, impressively higher than any episode heavy-hitters The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family ever saw.

Come season 2, FOX expanded the episode orders to 18 episodes per season, and also bumped premieres to the start of the season.  Fall 2015 lost the prior season's burning momentum, shedding 1.2 points between the premiere and second episode.  By the close of the season, ratings had shed as much as 3 full ratings points, and the novelty was over.  Empire still remained the highest scripted show on television and continued to remain red-hot throughout season 3.  However, the mid-season breaks harmed the serialized format, with strong falls and sharp drops in springtime.  Given Empire held the idealized 18-episode order for the late 2010's, perhaps FOX should have considered either doing a fall through late February/early March run, or January through season's close.

Interest in Empire began to cool in Season 4 with ratings now hovering below the 2.0 line.  Writing perhaps could have been attributed to the drops, but Empire's powerhouse effect began regularly being challenged by ABC.  Season 5 unfortunately experienced behind the scenes turmoil as series regular Jussie Smollett became embroiled in scandal in January 2019.  Empire notoriously entangled dozens of headlines, but its undoing came at the hands of FOX's latest reality TV fad, The Masked Singer.  Their ratings hovered in the mid-low 1.0 ratings despite The Masked Singer regularly registering in the 2.0 range.  Smollett was dismissed from the cast, and more devastating, FOX announced the 6th season would be the final one and relocated to the less prosperous Tuesday evenings.  Following the premiere, Empire regularly scraped below the 1.0 line and measured comparable to most network shows.  It is perhaps for the best Empire is concluding its run as it remained one of FOX's most stylish, sexy and successful entries it delivered to viewers in the 2010's.  Let's hope FOX is gracious enough to allow the series to conclude next year with the two remaining episodes sending the series out with a bang, and one more swing of the bat from Cookie Lyon.

Check out the EVERY EPISODE, EVERY RATING LIBRARY to see other shows profiled.

WILL & GRACE: Every Episode, Every Rating of the Revival

All good things must come to an end, again.  A trailblazer sitcom with predominant LGBTQ themes, Will & Grace enjoyed a hearty run from 1998-2006, ending in a bittersweet finale.  11 years later, lightning struck twice and not only had the sour developments been undone, but Will & Grace returned to NBC's Must-See-TV block on Thursdays in 2017.  Initially burning bright, Will & Grace's revival was handed multi-seasonal renewals.  Outside 2017, its ratings glory faded fast and resembled the plagued ratings of its neighboring sitcoms.  However, an additional 52 episodes featuring the principle quartet performed well enough for NBC's standards.  The table below profiles every episode of the revival's ratings.

Unfortunately, Live 18-48 adult demo ratings for seasons 1-8 is more obscure data to locate.  However, feel free to scroll for Will & Grace's seasonal ranks from 1998-2006 in TVRG's Ratings History Library.


Will & Grace's 9th season revival not only grabbed headlines, but was one of the first revivals to be tracked on broadcast network television with ratings on display.  The 3.0 debut on September 28, 2017 electrified the lineup, only outperformed that month by The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon.  The following episode dropped a full point to 2.0, still monstrous standards for a season rife with declines.  It appeared that fall Will & Grace plateaued between 1.6-1.8.  However, the 2018 calendar year caused erosion.  NBC's poor scheduling and attempts to exploit W&G's high ratings throughout the season damaged season 9 with the 0.9 finale being a 70% drop from the glorious return.  Thursday Night Football and the Winter Olympics indeed disrupted viewing patterns, but it trisected the season into three batches with the last dipping into fractional territory.

Season 10 showed continual declines hovering between 0.6-1.0, though the scheduling tightened.  With 18 episodes ordered, it matched Brooklyn Nine-Nine's episode order, which they compiled from January-May.  Aside for the winter break from December 6, 2018-January 31, 2019, NBC wisely compacted W&G's scheduling with an uninterrupted run.  Following declaring the 11th season would be the second final season in July 2019, NBC opted to schedule Will & Grace mid-season.  However, freshman pilot Sunnyside flamed out in the 9:30 timeslot and was pulled after 4 episodes.  To compensate for a loss of programming, they jumpstarted Will & Grace on October 24, 2019 in the 9:30 timeslot.  W&G returned to a new low at 0.5, ticking up to 0.6, then delivering ratings between 0.4-0.5 all throughout the winter.  The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in windfalls of ratings upticks in March 2020, and W&G rose to a 0.7 for the March 19 showing.  However, a three-week break again caused these gains to slide back to 0.6.

Will & Grace and fellow revival Roseanne/The Conners followed nearly identical trajectories after their colossal debuts.  Both dropped massively following premiere nights and settled into lower trends with mirrored their neighboring sitcoms.  However, The Conners held a slightly higher retention.  At the 40th episodes (episode 235 for the W&G revival), The Conners resides at 17% retention of the debut (0.9 series low vs. 5.2 revival debut), while W&G has a 13% retention (0.4 series low vs. 3.0  revival debut).  Will & Grace and Roseanne/The Conners stand as examples for the revival model and show phenomenal debuts can be fleeting.  Lousy scheduling and overplayed premises cause viewers to flee, so revive accordingly.  Either way, fans of Will & Grace were able to enjoy 52 more episodes over 3 seasons.

Check out the EVERY EPISODE, EVERY RATING LIBRARY to see other shows profiled.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_%26_Grace_(season_9)
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_%26_Grace_(season_10)
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_%26_Grace_(season_11)

FRESH OFF THE BOAT: Every Episode, Every Rating

On this valiant day, February 21, 2020, ABC sitcom Fresh Off The Boat leaves the air when primetime programming begins tonight.  Rather than pulling phony social graces like a Scottsdale Housewife, TVRG will rather ask readers to examine the data, play by play.  Based on a 90's gram through the life of adolescent Eddie Huang (Forrest Wheeler), the series intended to piggyback on The Goldbergs's success of the same vision in the 80's.  Though intended as the central focus, Constance Wu overtook the spotlight as his ambitious and centered mother, Jessica.

FOTB came into ABC's airwaves as not its first, but most successful sitcom showcasing an Asian American family.  And after entering it's second season, FOTB continued trendsetting records as it was not the first, but second sitcom on ABC's airwaves featuring an Asian dominant family as Ken Jeong vehicle Dr. Ken joined the Friday lineup).  Neither like nor associated, both earned renewals and showcased ordinarly familial problems in said demographic (and each differing, as FOTB managed to annoy the canned laughter method).  FOTB only lived that glimpse for two years as Dr. Ken waded out in 2017, and continued to sail through the schedule where needed.  Being a (then outsourced show from FOX), Fresh Off The Boat rotated across ABC's schedule as an afterthought.  Initially enjoying two helpings in the plum timeslot leading into Modern Family, FOTB was forced to colonize some of ABC's toughest timeslots.  As seen from every rating listed below, pick out where its timeslot moved and play along for its 6 seasons.

To see how Fresh Off The Boat rated year to year against its competition, cruise through TVRG's Ratings History library as it has television data from 1950 through the present!


Behold all episodes and seasons listed.  Debuting to a healthy 2.51 rating mid-season in 2015, FOTB enjoyed a cozy nook juxtaposed to Modern Family.  For two rude episodes.   Beyond that, they were forced to lead a struggling Tuesday night with struggling reality variety show Repeat After Me leading into a declining Marvel: Agents of Shield.  Sound insulting?  An underappreciated propped further into the schedule the following season behind a Muppets revival.  While most tuned in initially for an Office/Muppets mashup, the novelty wore off, and Muppets faded fast.  After determining its "lead in" dragged down its success, ABC yanked muppets, swishing FOTB back to 8:00 (in its 4th timeslot) move to support newbie The Real O'Neal's.

Being moved around like an undesirable wedding guest and forced to support duds led to deterioration.  The first time FOTB dipped below the 1.0 demo line this season was as shocking as Christmas Story's Ralphie yelping "Oh Fudge!"   Shocking then, but this series had many F-bombs in wait.  Given ABC desired to recolonize comedies on Tuesdays the following year, Fresh Off The Boat moved again to 9:00.  Now powered behind powerhouse American Housewife (and drained again with The Real O'Neal's), FOTB performed moderately its 3rd season.  ABC expressed interest, granting a special evening on Wednesday in January 2017 to its debut timeslot. While strong, it performed at 80% of where the usual competition performed. Impressively, FOTB retained 89.8% of the prior seasons' ratings set against continual Nielsen declines.

Season 4 arrived with the series' 6th move, sliding forward 30 minutes to 8:30.  Juxtaposed to veterans The Middle and Black-ish, what could go wrong?  Peer pack to the last paragraph at the first time the series dipped below the 1.0 demo.  Five episodes in, this became the norm.  Instead of "Oh Fudge!" the expression became "Oh, shit" in episode 69.  Followed by "Ahh shit!" in episode 72.  And taking an ode to Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, episodes 74-79 resembled Napoleon in the bowling alley foully expelling "Shit, shit, shit shit shit shit!!!!!!"  ABC truncated FOTB at 19 episodes, leaving it s future questionable.

The network renewed the series, although it would mov a 7th time to 8:00 on Fridays.  Attempting to re-establish comedies this evening, ABC chose to selected an aging franchise (FOTB) and a weakling (Speechless) to populate a graveyard of an evening destroyed by Once Upon a Time.  FOTB suffered losing almost half of its audience, yet pushed on.  After companion Speechless passed on at the close of the season, FOTB moved an 8th time back a half hour, leaving 15 episodes of finality, represented in the table.  Burning bright at a 2.51 rating in February 2015, the series bows out 5 years and 6 seasons later a full 2 points below at 0.43 for its seasonal average.  And yet the quality burned strong throughout!

Check out the EVERY EPISODE, EVERY RATING LIBRARY to see other shows profiled.



HAWAII FIVE 0: Every Episode, Every Rating

And so ends another sturdy staple in CBS' leacy, twice.  Hawaii Five-0 holds the distinction (by name) of traversing CBS' schedule for 22 of its 72 years on air, outplaying Law and Order: SVU by one season (by name that is). The divisive factor, however, is the current mainstay ending tomorrow is a reboot of the original 1968-80 hit machine (for more about this show's ratings success, check into TVRG's Ratings History Library).

The original series starred Jack Lord and Steve Denning for the entirety of the 12 seasons, with James MacArthur and Kam Fong remaining with the series from beginning long into the later seasons.  Like the original series, the H50 revival (distinguished as it traded the "O" for a numeric "0"), the revival, which arrived 42 years after premiere, held 4 cast members for the meat an duration.  James Caan and Alex O'Loughlin lined the entirety of the series with Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park contracted through the first 7 seasons.   Both successful, and the 21st Century revival cemented CBS' less desirable timeslots and may perhaps have lasted longer.

2010-15 Ratings

2015-20 Ratings

Both series traversed CBS' lineups for long stretches, yet plastered differing sections of the schedule.  The original only intersected on Fridays in fall 1975, instead bouncing between Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, only to get burned [off] on Saturdays in spring 1980.

Unlike 20th century Hawaii-5-O, the revival remained in solid volcanic soil on CBS 10:00 Mondays for 4 seasons.  Perhaps plotting over scheduling can be attributed to drops after Season 3, but the series demonstrated stability against changing times as demonstrated through the tables.  CBS opted to relocate H50 to Friday at 9:00 at the start of the 5th season, and the series prevailed.  It colonized the timeslot, well into its last season before being slid forward for the earlier run.  And yet as demonstrated in the table above, Hawaii 5-0 stood strong!  And its parting legacy is Blue Bloods, MacGyver and fledgling Magnum PI perhaps will hol down the fort after H50  bid adieu tomorrow.

Check out the EVERY EPISODE, EVERY RATING LIBRARY to see other shows profiled.

2018-19 Sitcom Ratings: Big Bang Theory Goes Out Large (And Takes Nielsens with Them)

All good things must come to an end, and The Big Bang Theory marked the end of the last mega-sitcom.  For sometime, Modern Family was viewed as a competitive mega-show of the same caliber, but its ratings cooled in the late 2010's.  The remaining sitcoms clamored for solid ratings.  Solid as in over 1.0 that is.  Only one third of the sitcoms displayed on broadcast network television achieved this status for their overall seasons, with only 7 in that posse never delivering a fractional rating in its existence.

FOX's controlled burn of eclectic comedies saw resurgence, mainly as Last Man Standing's revival in the fall delivered huge.  The newest network also too a no fuss, no muss approach to scheduling, leaving its Sunday 9:30 timeslot vacant and boarded up with repeats for majority of the season after Rel flamed out.  NBC's fortunes resembled the prior season with soft deliveries despite resurrecting Brooklyn Nine-Nine.  And ABC returned to the cellar following its prior season's Roseanne resurgence, with The Conners delivering a solid entry.  The network as a whole experienced losses, and its landmark Wednesday comedy block softened.  Fresh Off the Boat and Speechless attempted to recolonize Friday nights and could not establish a foundation juxtaposed to Last Man Standing.

The Big Bang Theory's exit marked a bittersweet exit as it debuted during a reality-TV littered era when sitcoms were unpopular.  And TBBT itself only modestly popular.  And somehow it exploded to great heights, carrying all the way to the end.


TVRG Ratings History (Update 2.0)

Written Educating The Masses With Published Reports by Bridger Cunningham (Former TVRG Writer)

2020-21 Ratings History

The best way to describe 2020-21 broadcast television season is a bittersweet symphony.  Not an outright tragedy as there were plenty of reminders the strong do survive, but also the strong can be taken out by evolution and unexpected forces. Particularly with CBS who was due for a tempo change and shocked viewers by axing/outsourcing various shows such as Mom, NCIS: New Orleans, MacGyver and SEAL Team.

The Pandemic raged on well beyond the tail end of the 2019-20 season, engulfing the entirety of the 2020-21 season and changing the television landscape to lowered depths.  The later portions of the season only held The Masked Singer in the Top 10, one of the few shows fortunate enough to hold ratings above 1.0.  The data presented represents Live/Same Day Viewing Demographics for 18-49 adults from September 6, 2020 through May 28, 2021.  Please note the data for the majority of 2020  represents unrounded figures, potentially skewing data by some hundredths.

To peer back on the prior 70 season on display from 1950-2020, check out the Ratings History library.

Trending Hot -- Will Sports ever go out of trend?  They lose viewers every season but always tackle the upper positions in the seasonal rankings.  So much even softer college football ratings for ABC landed in 21st place.  In a season left with voids of space, networks wisely licensed out existing programming in absence of original programming.  Broadcast networks are no longer the designer outlet of trends, but rather evolving into an eclectic thrift store of programming.  Despite a leaner pallet of sitcoms, CBS managed to wrangle the stronger entries which came close to or crossed the 1.0 threshold in ratings.  Pandemics be damned, CW carried on business as though the event never happened and had its year-round roster in full swing.  If only the other 4 networks took a hint and would knock it off with stretching shows over 8 months and expecting viewers to continue to pay attention.  Blocks of like programming proved beneficial as CBS enjoyed Tuesdays with FBI, NBC enjoyed its Chicago-verse monopolizing Wednesdays, and ABC and NBC giving each other noteworthy competition with ABC's Shonda-land and NBC's Law and Order headers.

Trending Tepid -- Reality TV stands stronger than scripted fares, but their primary franchises weathered considerable damage this year.  Only The Bachelor and The Masked Singer avoided dipping below the 1.0 line, and musical fares American Idol and The Voice cannibalized each other with simultaneous competition on Mondays.  Scripted shows of the strongest caliber took extreme batterings particularly after the new year as ALL dropped below the 1.0 benchmark.  FOX and ABC dramas wisely segmented seasons to allow blocks of consistent programming for most, with dramas emerging stronger than sitcoms.  Movie nights emerged again to spackle undesirable lapses in scheduling.  They have let to reclaim the 70's glory of second-hand movies of HBO quality or the 90's Lifetime-esque "women in peril" entries but make wonderful encores over tired repeats.

Trending Cold -- ABC and NBC sitcoms looked comisserative this season as ABC displayed a disjunct display of outdated shows a shadow of their glory combined with newbies who failed to crackle.  And NBC, ever creative and sophisticated, cannot seem to locate a modest success to keep the genre going.  Series which attempted to address COVID-19 or other crucial social issues met with mixed to negative reviews or ratings as exhausted viewers seemed to favor shows which helped them forget the world had gone to shit in 2020.  

2019-20 Ratings History

Look down at the chart and see a sad, boring story.  TVRG possesses 70 years of ratings data as of now, and the ongoing trend is the ratings keep shrinking though someone has their televisions on who has Nielsen tracking measures.  Yes, viewers have found their own ways to watch television without being glued to their screens live.  Yes, this season saw more disasters worldwide than any among said 70 years.  But the glaring culprit is broadcast networks remain stubbornly outdated, expecting somehow people will drop what they are doing just to watch their shows.  They even leave episodes strewn across the entire year, thinking viewers will not notice that somehow the network will expect them to enjoy repeats/leftovers and then rush back to their screens during February sweeps.  To add insult to illness, all in recent years seem to be playing it safe vs innovating when delivering new shows.

2018-19 Ratings History

Year by year losses are inevitable with live viewing trends and broadcast network television.  For those cruising year by year, does it appear this season took a massive hit?  Glance again, as this data is raw Live 18-49 Adult Demos vs. the prior year featured Live+7-day viewing patterns.  These jolts and inconsistencies are beneficial as they expose viewing patterns.  Most glaringly, the 2017-18 data would paint Reality TV to be all but gone.  This season, however exposes fresher viewing patterns with shows such as The Bachelor and Survivor rising higher as less people view reality primetime TV later.  

To check out other years' ratings, visit the Ratings History Library.



Trending Hot -- Reality TV took a battering in the 2010's thanks to trends reverting back to scripted fares, but The Masked Singer shoved the pendulum the other direction.  Promisingly, American Idol's revival and existing and respected franchises The Bachelor(ette), Survivor and the Voice bounced back to higher ratings.  CW rarely sets hot trends, except they refused to can one single show.  Instead, they declared final seasons for aged and weakened shows, allowing them to end with proper  notice and celebration.  Sports ratings remained strong, though down like everything else.  Best not to blame the kneel/squat/sit/lie down/lie flat controversy as everyone went down deeper this season.  As seen by rankings 46-146th Place, series ranking in fractional territory became common sites.

Trending Tepid -- Breakout scripted programming turned to ash after This is Us' Jack died from smoke inhalation on This is Us.  Indeed, scripted series outnumbered the schedule's remains, but fewer cracked into the top 30.  ABC sitcoms, once the network's landmark of prominence, faded and chipped into fractions.  Shows rating above 1.0 remained existent, though declining deeper into the season.  Friday night programming bounced back from disposal grounds for shows to modest players.  CBS' procedural playpen flourished, and FOX enjoyed a brief renaissance with Last Man Standing igniting fall on fire.

Trending Cold -- Revivals may have been the rage the prior season, but they were gimmicked out not too long after.  Blame Roseanne's moods on Twitter, but revivals collapsed.  Magnum PI debuted to underwhelming results, Will & Grace crashed, The Conners only survived due to controversy and Murphy Brown never stood a chance as it debuted soft and was filibustered as it complained too loudly about the POTUS.

Source -- https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/ratings-broadcast-network-series-2018-19-1213344