Week three of the 2013 - 2014 television season is almost over already. It seems like only last week that I was looking forward to the premieres of my favorite shows. So lets run through the highlights of this week's television ratings.
Sunday
Once Upon A Time had a solid second episode, earning a 2.6 adults 18-49 rating and 8.00 million viewers. That rating equals the season premiere, but 520,000 fewer viewers tuned in on Sunday. It will be interesting to see what ratings are like for this Sunday's episode
Revenge didn't share Once Upon A Time's good fortunes in remaining solid for its second episode. Sunday's episode earned a 1.9 rating and 6.84 million viewers - a 0.4 ratings point drop from its season premiere, with a 15.6% audience loss. Fans will be hoping things don't slip further, especially this early in the season.
Monday
Bones has been up and down so far this season. Of the four episodes that have aired, none of them have shared the same rating. Monday's episode earned a 2.1 rating and 7.30 million viewers - a 0.1 ratings point drop on last week's episode, but an increase on the audience of last week's episode which was seen by 7.26 million viewers. This season of Bones is sitting on a 2.13 ratings average, and a 7.27 million viewer average - a fraction down on last season's 2.17 ratings average, and a 2.4% decrease on last season's 7.45 million viewer average for the first four episodes.
The Blacklist continues to be a fantastic series that is living up to its full potential, and its ratings continue to reflect that. The series premiere earned a 3.8 rating and 12.58 million viewers, and Monday's episode earned a 3.1 rating and 11.18 million viewers. Though that's a 0.7 ratings point drop since the premiere, the audience drop is a mere 11% - a very impressive result for any show three weeks after a season premiere let alone a series premiere.
The third episode of Castle dropped 0.3 of a ratings point on the back of the opening 2-part episodes. Still, 10.51 million viewers tuned into Monday's episode despite the 1.9 rating, and that's a mere 3.4% audience decrease on the previous week's episode which was viewed by 10.88 million people. The third episode of last season did slightly better though, earning a 2.2 rating and 10.61 million viewers. Last season's first three episodes averaged a 2.07 rating and 10.50 million viewers, and this season is edging ahead, with the first three episodes averaging a 2.10 rating and 10.95 million viewers.
Tuesday
Agents of SHIELD suffered a drop in ratings and audience of around 28% between the premiere and episode 2, and the drop continues this week, with episode 3 earning a 2.9 rating and 7.87 million viewers. When comparing those numbers to last week's 3.3 rating and 8.66 million viewers, that works out at a 12% rating decrease, and a 9% audience decrease, on last week. When compared to the series premiere's 4.7 rating and 12.12 million viewers, Tuesday's episode sees a ratings decrease of 38%, and audience decrease of 35%. That's a substantial drop especially when compared to The Blacklist which I touched on earlier.
NCIS's third episode of the season was well down on the first 2 weeks of the season, with the departure of Ziva now complete. Tuesday's episode earned a 2.8 rating and 18.33 million viewers, a 0.7 ratings point decrease on last week's 3.5 rating and 19.98 million viewers. The third episode of last season earned a 3.4 rating and 18.51 million viewers - that's a 0.8 of a ratings point more than this year despite a mere 180,000 additional viewers - or a 1% increase, tuning in back then.
Person of Interest isn't warming to the new timeslot as much as fans would like. A 2.0 rating and 11.65 million viewers were all Tuesday's episode was able to draw in. All three episodes this season have set series low ratings records, and while the audience low hasn't been broken just yet, with the way things are trending, that may happen next week. Tuesday's episode earned a 2.0 rating and 11.65 million viewers - a 0.1 ratings drop, and 700,000 viewer drop on last week. See the graphs for this decrease in ratings here.
Wednesday
Revolution continues to struggle in its new Wednesdays timeslot this season, with Wednesday's episode earning a poor 1.5 rating and 5.45 million viewers. Removing CW from the equation, Revolution was the lowest rated show on Wednesday night, and the second least watched, with Ironside at 10|9c, also on NBC, taking that honor. Comparing this season's third episode to last season's is quite telling - it earned a 3.2 rating and 8.32 million viewers. I would be amazed if the show survived into a third season - the lights are indeed dimming.
Modern Family dipped below the 4.0 ratings mark for the first time this season, with all three previous episodes (including an hour long premiere) earning a 4.2 rating compared to Wednesday's 3.9 rating and 10.64 million viewers. It was the Emmy Award-winning comedy's centenary episode on Wednesday, so I wasn't expecting to see a ratings drop at all. The fourth episode of last season did a lot better than this season, earning a 4.7 rating and 12.28 million viewers.
Criminal Minds wound up a 2 part season premiere last week and resumed normal procedural format on Wednesday. The third episode of the season earned a 2.6 rating and 10.98 million viewers. Taking a look Criminal Minds' season ratings and audience comparison graphs on this page, you get the idea of the reduction in ratings and audiences that the series has seen in the last 2 seasons. Still, ratings and audiences are pretty consistent for the series which is nothing but a good sign.
Thursday
The Big Bang Theory earned a 5.1 rating and 17.64 million viewers on Thursday night, which is a fraction down on last week's 5.2 rating and 18.22 million viewers. After 4 episodes (including the 1 hour premiere) this season is sitting pretty with a 5.48 ratings average, and 18.82 million viewer audience average. That's well up on the first four episode average last season, where the series averaged a 4.8 rating and 15.20 million viewers.
The series premiere of Once Upon A Time in Wonderland did not get off to a good start at all. A 1.7 rating and 5.82 million viewers was all the premiere could manage in a tough timeslot in which CBS dominates. The ratings for the spinoff are far below the series record lows of its parent, and that is definitely not a positive sign. I'm expecting ABC to pull the plug on this one unless something drastic happens very quickly.
In its tribute episode to Cory Monteith, Glee soared ahead on Thursday, earning an impressive 2.9 rating and 7.39 million viewers. That's the highest rating the show has seen in a year, with the first few episodes of last season falling within the same range. I was predicting a ratings bump with the significance of the episode but nothing in the range of what was seen. Last week's episode earned a mere 1.6 rating and 4.42 million viewers, so Thursday's episode increased that rating by 81%, and the audience by 67%. It will be interesting to see how large the drop is when Glee returns on November 7.
After a massive premiere last week, Scandal fell back rather significantly this week. Thursday's episode earned a 3.1 rating and 9.01 million viewers - a 0.5 ratings point and 1.5 million viewer decrease on the premiere's 3.6 rating and 10.52 million viewers. While the ratings are still very strong, that is a rather large drop - a 14% decrease in both ratings and audience. It will be interesting to see if things perk up again next week or continue to
That's all for this week. What were the interesting trends you picked out in this week's ratings? Be sure to share your comments below and follow me on Twitter!
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Thanks for reading!
Jimmy
