Ratings and Scheduling: Who's the fairest of them all?

[BoPeeps]

Well, bringing Hook onto the show worked.

That executive was anything but delusional. Personally, Colin's portrayal was the only thing that brought me back onboard after being  let down by the blasé character development with the episodes after a fabulous season 1. From the first raised eyebrow, there no turning back. I am unabashedly watching the show for Hook. He goes, I go. While it would be no skin off their noses to lose me in particular, the instant fan following created with Hook among the magic demographic levels sealed the deal for the character. And I think it was extremely evident very fast that the dear Captain was a draw .Huge draw especially after they brilliantly (and I thought without a shadow of any Neal doubt ) showed in Tallahassee that Emma and Hook were going places. Popularity places.

[Eolivet]

I remember my husband (who is a bigger fan of the show than I am, though it's entirely Jennifer Morrison-related) telling me about some trailer they released at Comic-con prior to season 2 that showed or implied that Captain Hook would be coming to Storybrooke. After season 1, I think there were a lot of viewers (myself included) that wondered what the show would do now that the curse was broken. If I recall correctly, that was their big "thing" was they were going to have Captain Hook in season 2.

 

So...I agree Dungey is not wrong.

[Serena]

Anyway, getting back to the ratings and the possibility of Once getting renewed, I just saw that Scandal got a 1.7 last night. Series low. And it's one of the highest-rated shows on all of ABC. And season 5A of Once hovered at about 1.6. I guess that's sad news for network television, but very good for Once. 

[Souris]

SpoilerTV has a treasure trove of ratings info for Once & all shows.

[Serena]

OUAT picked up for season 6.

This is way earlier than all the previous years (it was always in May) and the first ABC show to get a pick up. Usually ABC renews all their shows at the same time, so I'm expecting to see other announcements. 

[Rumsy4]

A fast response to the "cancel OUAT" campaign, perhaps. lol

[mjgchick]

OUAT must be making bank if its the first show to be announced as renewed when the Shondaland shows haven't been.

[Curio]

Hooray! Expected, but hooray nonetheless.

 

 

I don't care how much we make fun of the show here, but I would be devastated if this was the last season.

[Babs Gordon]

Agreed. I still need this hot-mess-of-a-show in my life something fierce. So yay!

 

Edited March 3, 2016 by Babs Gordon

[YaddaYadda]

I'm so not ready for this show to be over!

[Selina K]

This article in Variety cites "sharp decline in season 5 ratings."  Do they have SQ people writing?  It's no more of a decline than any other season? 9 million seems like a high average for season 4, especially if you look at 4B.  We had the Elsa bump in the beginning of Season 4, but we ended at 5 million live.  So from Epi 1 to Episode 22, there was a 42% drop in live viewing.  Looking at live viewers for Season 5, we fell 23% from Ep 1 to Ep 12. The same 12 episode span in season 4 had a 39.9% drop.  I don't know.  Ratings are down, but it never seems more egregious than for other shows of similar age and duration.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Selina K

[Souris]

Hooray! Expected, but hooray nonetheless.

 

 

I don't care how much we make fun of the show here, but I would be devastated if this was the last season.

 

Yeah, I still want my CS fix regardless of the level of show quality. Saving gif for later use....

 

This article in Variety cites "sharp decline in season 5 ratings."  Do they have SQ people writing?  It's no more of a decline than any other season.

 

Or compared to other shows in general. Shonda's shows are all getting series lows -- Scandal has tumbled like crazy from the start of the season.

[Serena]

Yes, I'm actually kinda shocked by how bad Scandal's ratings have gotten. It will be renewed nonetheless, but the trend isn't good. And ABC just renewed a couple of comedies and Quantico, but no TGIT drama. They spend a lot of money marketing that lineup and I'm guessing aren't getting as many returns as they expected on that.

[OnceUponAJen]

I'm so glad to hear the news. CS still has a lot of stories to be told. That's the main reason I'm sticking with the show.

[YaddaYadda]

Well when you keep throwing your main character and heroine in bed between two douche bags, chances are viewers will get tired of that. Olivia Pope is the dumbest female character around, and it's a shame because Kerry Washington is a really strong actress. Shonda has Kerry Washington and Viola Davis. She has freakin' Viola Davis.

 

We complain about the writing on Once, but I'd rather watch Once a 100 times over than watch two amazing actresses drown in the horrible writing. There is nothing imaginative about what she does. I haven't watched Grey in a really long time, but as far as I can tell, her 3 shows follow the same pattern. Woman comes on the scene, has affair with married man, and go from there.

 

On Once, the characters are at least mostly likable and somewhat relatable even though it's about fairytales. Shonda has a whole bunch of very hateful and eye roll inducing characters. I think her formula is tired.

 

But awesome news for Once. I think we all knew it would be renewed, but this is great. I rewatched the pilot the other day which I haven't done in a really long time, and I remembered why I still watch it even though it can be so frustrating. And I find the kiss with Snowing, when I know that they actually carved out a tree for the casket takes on a whole new meaning for me, personally.

 

Looking forward to some characters gaining a backbone (MM and Belle, I'm looking at you), and some more CS. I wish the writers knew how to write well rounded stories with no plot holes. That's my biggest pet peeve.

Edited March 3, 2016 by YaddaYadda

[jjjmoss]

OUAT must be making bank if its the first show to be announced as renewed when the Shondaland shows haven't been.

Well, Quantico and Fresh Off the Boat were renewed today too. I highly doubt the "bank" they're making is greater than Shondaland's.

I'm guessing ABC's negotiating the Shondaland shows en masse which is a trickier negotiation. And they're still by a distance ABC's top 3 dramas.

[maryle]

I am in the happy group and hope for a good storyline for Emma and CS!

But it is so strange to see people now hoping it is the last season probably the seem people who wanted the show cancel.

[sharky]

Interesting that the decision was made so quickly with the new head of ABC only being there for a few weeks now. I wonder if she's trying to make a quick and dramatic showing of which direction she wants to take the network.

 

Also just fyi, I was checking my DVR to make sure it's all ready to record Once on Sunday and it looks like they're rerunning the 5A finale at 7pm followed by the premiere. But double check just in case -- for some reason, I don't think my DVR picked up the 7pm rerun as part of my Once series subscription so you may have to manually record it.

[Shanna Marie]

Unfortunately, my local affiliate is running a locally produced special on concussions in sports in that slot. I was hoping to get a better recording of the 5A finale that doesn't have half an hour of politics on first.

[sharky]

Unfortunately, my local affiliate is running a locally produced special on concussions in sports in that slot. I was hoping to get a better recording of the 5A finale that doesn't have half an hour of politics on first.

I'm recording it so I don't have that random 15-minute long "Blood and Oil" just sitting there on my DVR taunting me.

[Mathius]

This article in Variety cites "sharp decline in season 5 ratings."  Do they have SQ people writing?  It's no more of a decline than any other season?

 

As I said before and I'll say again, only 2B and the end of 4A / start of 4B had a "troubling" ratings drop that can be attributed to the show doing badly among the general audience. Those were honest-to-goodness bad times.

 

The ratings drop that's happened in 5A is no different from regular ratings drop that happen in every show that's been running for a while. Absolutely nothing about it is alarming or spelling disaster for the show in any way.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Mathius

[jjjmoss]

Only the last 2 episodes look 'troubling,' but the show has certainly recovered from end-of-the-fall dips in seasons past.

[scenicbyway]

After reading the Variety article I wonder if the decline was because people didn't like "Dark Swan." There was promise with Dark Emma and Camelot but, Camelot was basically dropped and we were left with a mustache twirling Arthur, still cursed Guinevere and an MIA Lancelot. Dark Emma was portrayed not as a "fun" villian like Dark Hook or Rumple but as a stilted, tortured woman who for some reason had to wear black leather and a bad wig even though other dark ones can wear normal clothes.

[Curio]

I think a big part of the drop off at the end was the random Merida centric. I know a few of my casual viewer friends said they were really confused about that and didn't know if the show had dropped the previous Dark Hook cliffhanger.

[ParadoxLost]

Kind of early for it but OUAT has been renewed for next season

 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/greys-anatomy-scandal-shield-and-8-other-shows-renewed-at-abc/ar-BBqjstY?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=HPCDHP

[KAOS Agent]

The ratings for Swan Song were messed up because there was a presidential address in front of it that totally threw everything off. You can't tell how many people tuned in and found the president talking and turned the channel or thought the show was completely pre-empted. It's one of those things where you can't judge the fall finale numbers against other seasons or episodes because an event occurred that was completely unrelated to the show.

[Souris]

Do we know if they're skipping Easter this year? If they do, it means three weeks before a break, which doesn't allow them to build momentum, but if they don't, ratings tend to drop because people aren't watching TV (I'm all for TV on Easter night because I don't feel like doing much else after singing for three services in the morning). If they skip Easter, we have to wait until after Easter for The Brothers Jones, but if they don't, then it will be on Easter and get killed in the ratings, and then people will try to claim that's because it's a Hook episode.

 

That exact reason is why I hope like crazy they're skipping Easter. I haven't seen one way or the other yet. The Ten Commandments did well for them in the ratings last year, so I hope they do that again.

Edited March 4, 2016 by Souris

[jjjmoss]

Prelim: 1.3 rating (1.2 in second half), 4.00 million viewers. 

Edited March 7, 2016 by jjjmoss

[LizaD]

 

This article in Variety cites "sharp decline in season 5 ratings."  Do they have SQ people writing?  It's no more of a decline than any other season?

 

It's a year-to-year comparison. Fall last year was Frozen so yes the y-t-y decline compared to Frozen is probably the steepest it's been considering what Frozen did for the show.  The editorial writers aren't necessarily viewers of the show. You get hard numbers to write up a short article and your job is done. They're not looking for anomalies or in-show reasonings or explanations.

[Curio]

Ouch. Apparently, a lot of people aren't interested in the darker tone the show has taken. Is that a series low in viewers? They're lucky they already got that Season 6 renewal announced and in writing.
 
I have a feeling The Mouse might intervene and heavily suggest the writers do another stunt for Season 6, kind of like what they did with Frozen. Would introducing Jasmine and Aladdin be enough to pique the general audience's interest again in the fall? Or are we officially at the core audience who are ride or die at this point?

[HoodlumSheep]

Ouch. You'd think it would have increased just a tad being a premiere and the 100th. Maybe everyone high-tailed it when they heard the episode was 90% Regina.

Joking, joking. I know that's not the reason.

The show's been rather dismal and heavy since 4b (you could even say 4a too, but a least frozen kept things a little...lighter?). It would be smart to go to something lighter and fun in 6a.

[Curio]

The show's been rather dismal and heavy since 4b (you could even say 4a too, but a least frozen kept things a little...lighter?). It would be smart to go to something lighter and fun in 6a.

 

I feel like the show officially took a tonal shift somewhere around halfway through Season 4A and it hasn't gotten that same lighthearted, fun vibe back. It's all been downhill since Breaking Glass, in my opinion.

[Rumsy4]

Wow. Not a good start for 5B. I bet the lower rating for the 2nd half is because people were bored to see yet another Snow vs EQ flashback. OTOH, the season premiere was so thoroughly spoiled, maybe people just didn't bother to tune in. In that case, I hope it picks up next episode.

And I agree Curio. It's been downhill since Breaking Glass. 

[sharky]

Ratings bingo! I feel like releasing it two weeks early was a mistake. I think there were people who checked out when they heard it was Regina going after Snow -- again -- with 30 seconds of Hook. You can't blame them. Seriously, you leave us with this emotional death scene and the whole group going to save him and we get 30 seconds?

I do wonder what's going to happen in the next few months. You've got three big things going on: ratings slump, new A&E show, and new head of programming. It may still be making them money, but their best success was when Disney/ABC had more creative control over A&E. And you have an exec who was instrumental in stepping in and making major changes to their pilot now in charge of all of it. I just don't see the status quo working much longer for them regardless of the renewal.

[Souris]

Prelim: 1.3 rating (1.2 in second half), 4.00 million viewers. 

 

Where are you getting the half-hour breakdown? My go-to of the TVMediaInsights forum is kaput.

[Hookian]

Guys if you look across the board ABC's ratings in general leave a lot to be desired. They truly are horrible across the board. Once is doing fine and returned steady.

[YaddaYadda]

I've been wondering. Are there ratings available for the rerun of 5x11 at 7pm?

[Souris]

From Marc Berman via SpoilerTV (household numbers, not demo): Earlier in the evening on ABC was a repeat of “Once Upon a Time” (#4: 1.8/ 3) into a 2.7/. 4 (#3) for an original installment of the deteriorating (and just renewed) drama in its regularly scheduled time period.

[Mari]

Was there a lot of advertising?  I've had a lot going on, so the only reason I knew the new episode was on was because it was preset in my DVR.

[Hookian]

Ratings bingo! I feel like releasing it two weeks early was a mistake. I think there were people who checked out when they heard it was Regina going after Snow -- again -- with 30 seconds of Hook. You can't blame them. Seriously, you leave us with this emotional death scene and the whole group going to save him and we get 30 seconds?

I do wonder what's going to happen in the next few months. You've got three big things going on: ratings slump, new A&E show, and new head of programming. It may still be making them money, but their best success was when Disney/ABC had more creative control over A&E. And you have an exec who was instrumental in stepping in and making major changes to their pilot now in charge of all of it. I just don't see the status quo working much longer for them regardless of the renewal.

 

I don't think it matters they were renewed for S6. It's gonna happen, and we'll probably get a 7th and final season but that is a long ways away.

 

Here's how I see it Once is in S5 and is delivering pretty steady ratings consistently. The show that aired last night after Once in the series premiere got a 0.8.  That says a lot right there and Quantico dropped to a series low already and this is the show that was competing with Once for top show of the night back in the fall. 

 

This show is doing great in the new TV landscape.

[jjjmoss]

Where are you getting the half-hour breakdown? My go-to of the TVMediaInsights forum is kaput.

ShowBuzzDaily

 

Guys if you look across the board ABC's ratings in general leave a lot to be desired. They truly are horrible across the board. Once is doing fine and returned steady.

Given Once's history, 3 out of 4 previous seasons the spring premiere bounced back a bunch from the fall finale and the spring only had 1 episode lower than the fall finale.

The exception is S2, which also "returned steady" to a 3.1 and eventually fell down all the way to a 2.0. So a steady return isn't a good portent.

Once's current level is something like 10th place among ABC shows this season. Maybe 11th if Secrets and Lies does solidly.

 

More specific 18-49 results the last 3 episodes:

1.35 Thanksgiving

1.33 Fall finale

1.27 Spring premiere (prelim)

Edited March 7, 2016 by jjjmoss

[LizaD]

Quantico gets a bigger boost in C3 than Once which is nearly negligible. When all is said and done, Quantico averaged out to be higher than Once, at least it was for the first couple of months. And yes I know that comes with the "Quantico is a freshman show" vs a vet show note.

Edited March 7, 2016 by LizaD

[sharky]

Although that was the first half of the season when Blood and Oil was carrying a bit of the audience through. Last night, The Family got a 0.8 in the 9pm slot and Quantico had to build on that. There was no strong lead-in at all.

[jjjmoss]

If this season's development season is any indication, Once should get at least two more seasons.

After that terrible 0.8 timeslot premiere for The Family, last night Of Kings and Prophets got a...0.8. It's like the only new dramas ABC viewers are willing to catch are by Shonda.

[Hookian]

ShowBuzzDaily

 

Given Once's history, 3 out of 4 previous seasons the spring premiere bounced back a bunch from the fall finale and the spring only had 1 episode lower than the fall finale.

The exception is S2, which also "returned steady" to a 3.1 and eventually fell down all the way to a 2.0. So a steady return isn't a good portent.

Once's current level is something like 10th place among ABC shows this season. Maybe 11th if Secrets and Lies does solidly.

 

More specific 18-49 results the last 3 episodes:

1.35 Thanksgiving

1.33 Fall finale

1.27 Spring premiere (prelim)

 

Once in the drama department ranks in 4th after the Shondaland trio.

 

If you guys look across the board you can see that ABC is doing horrible and it keeps on getting worse. AOS got a 1.1 last night another show that premiered last night got a 0.8. This is just how it is now and Once is the least of ABC's worries.

If this season's development season is any indication, Once should get at least two more seasons.

After that terrible 0.8 timeslot premiere for The Family, last night Of Kings and Prophets got a...0.8. It's like the only new dramas ABC viewers are willing to catch are by Shonda.

And Once.

[Mitch]

The premeire was close to S1 "darkness,' and less cartoony (well except for Parrilla's EQ who is loosing all touch with anything resembling a human and is closer to a 10 miunte drag performace) and I like it, but have to think that the last several years of cartoon "violence," and screeching about "heroes and villains," (from grown people no less.) that the  audience is used to more gooey sugar like the "Frozen," girls and the insipid aurthor stuff. I also think that a lot of the country is right wing "biblical value," people so maybe a trip to what they would consider "hell," was too much for their precious little ones to see.

[jjjmoss]

And Once.

Is a 100-episode show a "new" drama now?

 

Once in the drama department ranks in 4th after the Shondaland trio.

Yes, and 10th overall on ABC.

Edited March 9, 2016 by jjjmoss

[KingOfHearts]

The premeire was close to S1 "darkness,' and less cartoony (well except for Parrilla's EQ who is loosing all touch with anything resembling a human and is closer to a 10 miunte drag performace) and I like it, but have to think that the last several years of cartoon "violence," and screeching about "heroes and villains," (from grown people no less.) that the audience is used to more gooey sugar like the "Frozen," girls and the insipid aurthor stuff. I also think that a lot of the country is right wing "biblical value," people so maybe a trip to what they would consider "hell," was too much for their precious little ones to see.

I would agree that it's gotten too depressing for audiences who let their kids watch with them. At times it can be mean-spirited. Does anybody enjoy Regina's verbal abuse, heroes constantly tortured, or Rumple getting away with everything he does? The repetition is jading. Now we're in an even less hopeless situation - hell. That's not very appealing for a family hour drama.

Edited March 9, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[TheGreenKnight]

I agree, the commercials emphasizing the fact that they're going to Hell had to be a turn-off for family audiences. They'd have been better sticking to "Underworld." I'm hoping the ratings come up a little next week. Either way, at least season 6 is guaranteed.

[Mitch]

I would agree that it's gotten too depressing for audiences who let their kids watch with them. At times it can be mean-spirited. Does anybody enjoy Regina's verbal abuse, heroes constantly tortured, or Rumple getting away with everything he does? The repetition is jading. Now we're in an even less hopeless situation - hell. That's not very appealing for a family hour drama.

Agree with you on the show in the past.  While Regina's redemption has not been written correctly and frustrates both the Regina lovers and the Regina haters, but at least we have seen her "try" to be better. Rumpel just keeps going back to square one. I think the problem with that is what I have always said is wrong with this show, ,magic is too powerful, dark magic trumps white magic...(Blue is useless, Glinda of all characters is trapped in a snow land...) and the only way for the heroes to win is to blunder into something, or get an even more powerful dark magic user to help them. Uh, okay.

 

I do think this show, in its original incarnation, was not ever really a "kid's show." S1 wasnt really about fairy tale stuff and stupid "heroes and villains," it was about hope returning, the past haunting you, including the mistakes you made in that past, and the possibility of redemption, for  yes, even the villains but it is yours to take if you want it. It really said that the world is kind of is a place bad stuff happens, a lot,  but by being a "good," person and fighting the good fight you can change that.

 

They are now at least actually showing some repercussions on "bad," behavior and talking about redemption, even for people lost in the Underworld. I think that is very optimistic while dealing in a bleak world....which is why I likened it to S1 (the SB'ers were stuck in bleak world without hope until Emma came, etc.)  I can't beleive we actually got Regina to say she was sorry, and we actually talked about her killing her father, no excuses. For all its darkness its been the first time there has been talk of repercusions...despite "magic having a price,"  a price that we can never see. 

 

I think the cartoony S2 through 4 have been less dark but yes, more mean spirited. People die and its all a lark as its not the main cast..people are turned into fish and rats and its okey dokey cause no one knows who it is. Hell, one person was murdered by Cora and buried anonymously and there was not one line about, "hey do you think that was Smith the cobbler? He disappeared and no one has seen him.." it was just like, "Well, at least it wasnt Archie!"  The Shattered Sight curse would have been dramatic and interesting but it was all a joke, even though citizens were seen beating each other up. Dark is not neccessarily mean spirited.

Edited March 9, 2016 by Mitch