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

[sharky]

Right, but also remember that shows aren't competing against other shows. They're competing against the shows on their network. So yes, days play a factor but numbers are numbers.

Thanks for the clarification @orza but that just causes more confusion now. So Shield had a 0.8 on a weird night when it was up against This is Us but this week, without that competition, it got a 0.6. Why the big drop with less competition?

And just a side note, we should also once again remember how the ratings landscape has changed since Once started. This is Us is pulling a 2.6 and is considered a huge success. If Once was pulling a number like that in its first season, it would've been cancelled.

[Tiger]

Re: Shield vs. Once, Shield is doing well on MyNetworkTV, internationally, on dvr, second screen, has merchandising, and keeps Marvel on broadcast tv weekly.   ABC doesnt need Once to keep the disney characters on weekly or sell the merchandise.  It also never got a syndication or off-network deal, and dvr #'s are not good anymore.

@sharky, Libby & Malcolm has been officially picked up.

[icewolf]

Why Shield is still around? A 0.6 is toxic ratings for a weeknight show, that would even be BAD for a Friday show. Agent Carter's lowest rating was a 0.7 and it got canceled.

The excuse about advertising the Marvel movies don't fly anymore, Shield only gets 2 million viewers an episode. That's nothing compared to the impact of a Marvel movie.

AoS screwed its chances with its horrid first season. It has been proven again and again every year that the movies will never boost the show's ratings, nearly the entire audience that goes to see the movies don't care about the show or even know that it exists.

The connection to the Marvel movies got AoS to four seasons enough for syndication, but I think that will be it. There will be no six seasons and a movie for this show.

[YaddaYadda]

I love how AoS has the Marvel "excuse" everytime the abysmal ratings are brought up. 

[Serena]

2 hours ago, Tiger said:

@sharky, Libby & Malcolm has been officially picked up.

Only for its pilot, unless you heard of more recent news. 

[Hookian]

4 hours ago, Serena said:

Only for its pilot, unless you heard of more recent news. 

No he hasn't heard more recent news. It's just a pilot like you posted. 

[sharky]

After last night's ratings, I do wonder if there is some thought to bringing Sunday shows back later than other shows. The football numbers buried everything else, although to be fair pretty much everything else was a repeat last night. So in the first six weeks of the year, there's Golden Globes and football that interrupt a week here and a week there. February has Super Bowl, Daytona 500 and the Oscars. So maybe it is smart for ABC to hold off on their Sunday shows for a bit.

[Souris]

1 hour ago, sharky said:

After last night's ratings, I do wonder if there is some thought to bringing Sunday shows back later than other shows. The football numbers buried everything else, although to be fair pretty much everything else was a repeat last night. So in the first six weeks of the year, there's Golden Globes and football that interrupt a week here and a week there. February has Super Bowl, Daytona 500 and the Oscars. So maybe it is smart for ABC to hold off on their Sunday shows for a bit.

I think that's a big part of why the Sunday shows have always had a big midseason break.

So Ginny will be doing a play for the first couple weeks of Once filming, if there is a S7. I mean, it's not like Snow ever gets much screentime, but it does make one go Hmmmm.

Interesting article about ratings in the first half of this TV season.

Edited January 23, 2017 by Souris

[sharky]

The Ginny thing doesn't concern me. The play ends its run on July 16 and the show has come back that late before or close to it. Was it two years ago where they had been back to set for a day or two before comic con? 

[YaddaYadda]

1 hour ago, Souris said:

So Ginny will be doing a play for the first couple weeks of Once filming, if there is a S7. I mean, it's not like Snow ever gets much screentime, but it does make one go Hmmmm.

Not really. They've worked around their actors' schedules before. 

[Souris]

10 minutes ago, sharky said:

The Ginny thing doesn't concern me. The play ends its run on July 16 and the show has come back that late before or close to it. Was it two years ago where they had been back to set for a day or two before comic con? 

That was because Comic Con was several weeks early that year.

The Ginny thing doesn't prove anything, of course. I wouldn't blink an eye, really, if not for the S7 uncertainty.

[Free]

40 minutes ago, Souris said:

That was because Comic Con was several weeks early that year.

The Ginny thing doesn't prove anything, of course. I wouldn't blink an eye, really, if not for the S7 uncertainty.

It's not just Ginny, this season, Jen mentioned about her contract and then the writers have floated around a possible reboot, something that hasn't happened in past seasons until this year.

[Souris]

Michael Ausiello talked about Once briefly in his FB Live (starts about the 4:00 mark). I transcribed:

"I think you know that Once Upon a Time is not a slam dunk for renewal, so a lot of rumors, reports going around about what a potential new season of Once Upon a Time would look like. It sounds like it would look vastly different. A lot of cast members’ contracts are up, it’s not clear who will be back, so we’re obviously keeping an eye on that."

[Curio]

Depending on which cast members stay and which ones leave, I could either end up falling in love with the show again or dropping it altogether. 

[Souris]

We know Jen's contract is up. Robert gave the quote about it being time to pack up and go home, so his is likely up as well. And I'm highly suspicious that Ginny & Josh's are also up and they won't re-sign. Lana, I've seen a couple of references to her having renegotiated her contract at some point, but I don't know the veracity of that, so she could still be contracted if that's true. Colin, Bex and Emilie would also almost assuredly be still on contract since they were made regulars later. I don't think the show is overly invested in Zelena and Rumple-less Belle.

So if Jen doesn't sign on, we could have Hook and Regina sailing around helping people in Emma's memory or some crap like that.

Another possibility is that they mutate the show into a Hook prequel about his adventures in his pre-Once days. I couldn't see that lasting over a season, but it would at least preserve a possible CS happy ending. (Let's be real, NOTHING they mutate the show into is going to last past a season.)

There's a reason they sent Hook off on this multi-ep side adventure with only guest stars; it could be a trial run to show ABC what the show would look like.

Edited January 23, 2017 by Souris
Spoiler tags!

[ParadoxLost]

13 minutes ago, Curio said:

Depending on which cast members stay and which ones leave, I could either end up falling in love with the show again or dropping it altogether. 

I'm losing enough faith on the writers ability to execute the things that they used to be good at that I'm not sure who goes or stays will make a difference to me.  I'm not sure that I'm going to make it through this season, frankly.

[KingOfHearts]

Quote

So if Jen doesn't sign on, we could have Hook and Regina sailing around helping people in Emma's memory or some crap like that.

I'm probably stating the obvious here, but... it could be that Emma's imminent death was a direct effect of Jen's contract being up. Maybe the writers have been planning a legitimate death for the character at the end of the season. On the other hand, it's hard to believe the writers could possess that much foresight due to their history.

Edited January 24, 2017 by KingOfHearts

[ParadoxLost]

54 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

I'm probably stating the obvious here, but... it could be that Emma's imminent death was a direct effect of Jen's contract being up. Maybe the writers have been planning a legitimate death for the character at the end of the season. On the other hand, it's hard to believe the writers could possess that much foresight due to their history.

I don't think they would kill Emma if Jen left the show.  They'd likely pull a Vampire Diaries and Emma would be put in some kind of stasis ala Snow White or Sleeping Beauty and then whisked away somewhere so none of the usual suspects could do a TLK.

[Curio]

Yeah, whether or not Season 7 is a thing, Emma is definitely not getting killed off.

[Souris]

1 hour ago, KingOfHearts said:

I'm probably stating the obvious here, but... it could be that Emma's imminent death was a direct effect of Jen's contract being up. Maybe the writers have been planning a legitimate death for the character at the end of the season. On the other hand, it's hard to believe the writers could possess that much foresight due to their history.

Well, apparently there's a lot of cast contracts up this season and they didn't plan anybody else's season-long Damoclean sword. If Rumple heads happily off into the sunset with Belle & Gideon but Emma dies....

 

[Hookian]

3 hours ago, Curio said:

Yeah, whether or not Season 7 is a thing, Emma is definitely not getting killed off.

No she won't. I honestly think JMO is a much safer bet to be in S7 then say Bobby for sure. She sounded more hopeful in her interview. 

I think that Gosh will go down to recurring. JMO, Colin, and Lana will stay as regulars. Probably Bex and Jared as well.

Emilie and Robert will go. I mean the show is gonna change without Rumple around. He's literally connected to every single character. it's a completely different show without him.

If JMO is worried about having to play Emma forever she doesn't have to. Literally the ratings do not sustain this show passed a S7, at all. 

If JMO chooses not to resign than they'll probably have her cursed and swept away to a land far away and they'll spend next season finding her and then JMO will return at the end of the season so Emma and the show can get the happy ending.

JMO is really good for returning to wrap up her characters.

Edited January 24, 2017 by Hookian

[RulerofallIsurvey]

14 hours ago, Souris said:

Lana, I've seen a couple of references to her having renegotiated her contract at some point, but I don't know the veracity of that, so she could still be contracted if that's true.

Would A&E even want to continue without their darling, precious Regina?

8 hours ago, Hookian said:

If JMO chooses not to resign than they'll probably have her cursed and swept away to a land far away and they'll spend next season finding her and then JMO will return at the end of the season so Emma and the show can get the happy ending.

I could see something like this being pitched.  Not sure if it would fly, but it sounds like something for which they might try.  Don't know if I would watch it though - even with Hook.  Not if it's Hook and Regina working together all season.  I DO NOT want to see that.  Maybe if Regina goes back to full EQ mode and becomes the antagonist in the quest to find Emma it would work.  [She couldn't stop Snow White from getting her happy ending, so she tries to prevent Snow's daughter from getting hers'.]  Only loose end is Henry.  I suppose he'd have to sail off on the Jolly Roger with Hook.  Ugh.  But at least then there's the possibility of him falling overboard, right?

[maryle]

I think the one I am almost certain will not be back is Robert. C. 

Everything point to him not be interesting in renewing his contract and certain not for many years.  Will explain the focus on Rumbelle because if they do reconnect at the end of this year. Even for A. and E. it will be too much time have another split next year.

Jen, will probably sign for one more year but it can goes wrong if they insist for a longer commitment. 

All the others could easily going either way and Emilie R. is the tricky one. I don't know what they could do with her if rumbelle walk in the sunshine at the end. At least they Rumple sacrifice himself to the greater good. 

Anyway, it just speculation will wait and see.

I think A. and E will pitch anything to keep the show going and that the most scary.

[Hookian]

You have the Bachelor lead in and you only get a .9? Quantico is done. Nothing justifies those pathetic ratings and with a good lead in.

Bachelor got a 2.5 last night. How the heck can you justify it dropping that much. It's done. It'll drop next week probably.

Edited January 24, 2017 by Hookian

[TheGreenKnight]

I wonder why they wouldn’t consider pairing OUAT with The Bachelor instead of Quantico anyway. Both OUAT’s and The Bachelor’s bases are female viewers, both are essentially fairytale shows even if one is reality-based and OUAT does often put a focus on romance/shipping. *shrug* Just a thought.

Edited January 24, 2017 by TheGreenKnight

[Souris]

Quantico had an in-ep drop from 1.0 to 0.7. That's some MASSIVE tune-out.

[Hookian]

49 minutes ago, TheGreenKnight said:

I wonder why they wouldn’t consider pairing OUAT with The Bachelor instead of Quantico anyway. Both OUAT’s and The Bachelor’s bases are female viewers, both are essentially fairytale shows even if one is reality-based and OUAT does often put a focus on romance/shipping. *shrug* Just a thought.

Maybe they'll do that next season if it's OUAT's last.

[Mari]

I don't know that they would waste a big lead-in like the Bachelor on a show that's limping to the finish line.

[Hookian]

16 minutes ago, Mari said:

I don't know that they would waste a big lead-in like the Bachelor on a show that's limping to the finish line.

Well they're doing it with Quantico and who knows how bad the drop will be next week. ABC needs to realize the show is dead.

[Free]

1 hour ago, Souris said:

Quantico had an in-ep drop from 1.0 to 0.7. That's some MASSIVE tune-out.

Same trajectory as the show itself.

[Hookian]

It got a 0.7 when it's lead in was Secrets and Lies. How does someone still think this show is getting renewed. 

This show is a joke, no move saved it. It'll be back to the ratings it had on Sundays next episode.

[sharky]

That flip between Quantico and Conviction was a whole lot of completely useless. So that's two shows you can toss in the dumpster fire that already includes Notorious. The ratings for Once when it returns are going to be really interesting. 

[Hookian]

HAHAHAH IT DROPPED IN THE FINALS .1

And you want to tell me Quantico is a guaranteed renewal? Get out of here with that.

[Free]

1 hour ago, sharky said:

That flip between Quantico and Conviction was a whole lot of completely useless. So that's two shows you can toss in the dumpster fire that already includes Notorious. The ratings for Once when it returns are going to be really interesting. 

It's like arranging chairs on the Titanic, ultimately it did nothing.

[jjjmoss]

8 hours ago, TheGreenKnight said:

I wonder why they wouldn’t consider pairing OUAT with The Bachelor instead of Quantico anyway. Both OUAT’s and The Bachelor’s bases are female viewers, both are essentially fairytale shows even if one is reality-based and OUAT does often put a focus on romance/shipping. *shrug* Just a thought.

Not much of a point in boosting a show in its 6th season. By this time, its audience pretty much is what it is. 

Plus, OUAT doesn't seem like a 10 o'clock show.

[Curio]

30 minutes ago, jjjmoss said:

Plus, OUAT doesn't seem like a 10 o'clock show.

 

If we're already getting rape, domestic abuse, murder, and depression at 8:00, I don't even want to know what A&E would do with a 10:00 slot.

[ParadoxLost]

9 hours ago, TheGreenKnight said:

I wonder why they wouldn’t consider pairing OUAT with The Bachelor instead of Quantico anyway. Both OUAT’s and The Bachelor’s bases are female viewers, both are essentially fairytale shows even if one is reality-based and OUAT does often put a focus on romance/shipping. *shrug* Just a thought.

The tough thing for ABC is that they don't want to burn The Bachelor lead in on an aging show.  They want to use it to launch and build a viewer base for a new(er) show.  The problem is that Conviction and Quantico try too hard to be "edgy".  They aren't really a fit with the Bachelor audience.  Castle did well there because it was very shippy.  The few shows that might work there (OUAT and Grey's) they don't want to put there for a variety of reasons.

I think they didn't expect to have to cancel Castle.  I think they might pick one show for next season that is a better fit for Bachelor.  Although I have yet to see a pilot that indicates that ABC has learned that they aren't very good at picking their dramas.  Seems like a lot of doubling down on the types of shows that didn't work out this season.

47 minutes ago, jjjmoss said:

Not much of a point in boosting a show in its 6th season. By this time, its audience pretty much is what it is. 

Plus, OUAT doesn't seem like a 10 o'clock show.

I have often wondered if OUAT wouldn't have gone so badly off the rails after season 1 if they had been a 9 or 10 o'clock show.  Despite it always being at 8PM I've always wondered if there was some S2 retooling / "dumbing down" to make the show more family friendly.

Edited January 25, 2017 by ParadoxLost

[Camera One]

I have no doubt it would have been just as much of a disaster except with more sex and violence.

Edited January 25, 2017 by Camera One

[Mitch]

14 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

.

I have often wondered if OUAT wouldn't have gone so badly off the rails after season 1 if they had been a 9 or 10 o'clock show.  Despite it always being at 8PM I've always wondered if there was some S2 retooling / "dumbing down" to make the show more family friendly.

 

Agreed, though the whole show was set up to be a bit..more not dumb but more straight forward, more flat.  It would have been an interesting if the characterizations went deeper from the get go of S1. So say Baby Snow as not just an innocent big mouth tricked by Cora but actually really, really wanted a Mom and was upset and blurted it out to Cora to stop Regina from running away...( I would have created a deep relationship for Regina and Snow, in that they knew each other for years thanks to Cora insinuating herself in the royals lives..so that Regina had more of a reason to feel betrayed as would Snow that Regina was running away from her family..) Also, no matter what Snow's dad comes off as a creep, even though they show him as a gentle guy..I would have made him only want to marry Regina to create a male heir for the throne...overlooking that Snow would make a kick ass leader (in my version, not how she turned out in the show...) He didn't really care for either Snow or Regina for what they were (making it more ironic that because of him they become arch enemies...) Also, it would be nice if they forgo the Disney "OOOOH MAGIC!! aint it great"  and create a more complex world of magic and magical users...i.e. Cora and Regina were witches, and witches are born with magic and if you become a bad person the magic is dark and if you make a choice to be good it is white. So Control Freak Blue creates a law that ALL witches or magic users outside of fairies is banned in the EF and all magic users will be burned if the don't comply..giving reason for Cora and Regina to be more secretive instead of strutting it around.  All of that would not be used to make Regina into a "hero" (see its everyones fault but hers) but to give the characters more depth and the world they live in more interesting.)  Wouldn't have to include more sex and violence to be more adult, just a richer story then the basics we have gotten, even from S1.

Edited January 25, 2017 by Mitch

[icewolf]

Shield AGAIN got a 0.6 rating this week, tying last week's series low.

It was lowest rating of the night, matching a CW show.

The bad news? Still 12 more AoS episodes left that needs to be shown.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/daily-ratings/tuesday-final-ratings-jan-24-2017/

Edited January 25, 2017 by icewolf

[Hookian]

Yep AOS is so getting renewed huh, oh and Quantico with it's almost even with Sunday ratings. LBR by the time Quantico is on it's 3rd episode it'll be back at if not worse then it was on Sundays.

[sharky]

Wow. Again though my concern is how this could be reflected in Once's ratings. If these shows are coming back from hiatus and falling this low, is it possible this could happen to Once as well when it's back?

[Free]

12 hours ago, Hookian said:

Yep AOS is so getting renewed huh, oh and Quantico with it's almost even with Sunday ratings. LBR by the time Quantico is on it's 3rd episode it'll be back at if not worse then it was on Sundays.

Quantico was only a 0.1 difference in the demo from its last episode on Sunday which is terrible given the lead in.

2 hours ago, sharky said:

Wow. Again though my concern is how this could be reflected in Once's ratings. If these shows are coming back from hiatus and falling this low, is it possible this could happen to Once as well when it's back?

Possibly, it has a history of tying its low and they haven't exactly done much to give much to look forward to in 6b, whereas before, we had new arcs being teased.

Edited January 26, 2017 by Free

[sharky]

Yea, I'm hoping the lack of buzz is because it's not coming back until March. It'll be interesting to see what comes out of the panel next week in Atlanta and how that could help the show's return -- if at all.

[Kktjones]

That's a great question - how are they going to promote this half of the season? In the past they were able to play up the Wicked Witch, the Queens of Darkness & the underworld. This time there's really not one major storyline to promote. "Tune in to see the Wish realm, Robin Hood's return, Gideon's death wish for Emma, the mystery of David's father's death, Jasmine & Aladdin save Agrabah, the Evil Queen as a snake, and more!"

[Souris]

Anything said next week may or may not help with the online fandom, but it's unlikely to affect the GA. I doubt it will get much coverage, and most viewers will hear nothing of what's said there.

[sharky]

10 minutes ago, Souris said:

Anything said next week may or may not help with the online fandom, but it's unlikely to affect the GA. I doubt it will get much coverage, and most viewers will hear nothing of what's said there.

Totally agree. My only hope is something is said there that gives the online fandom a clearer idea of the second half that could perhaps spill over to the GA or at least give us a better idea of how they are going to be promoting the second half to the GA. That being said, the buzz even in the online fandom has been very little so maybe they do need it if only to make sure the dedicated crowd sticks around, which really does say something about what's going on there.

[YaddaYadda]

15 minutes ago, Kktjones said:

That's a great question - how are they going to promote this half of the season? In the past they were able to play up the Wicked Witch, the Queens of Darkness & the underworld. This time there's really not one major storyline to promote. "Tune in to see the Wish realm, Robin Hood's return, Gideon's death wish for Emma, the mystery of David's father's death, Jasmine & Aladdin save Agrabah, the Evil Queen as a snake, and more!"

Judging by that poster they released a couple of weeks ago, they're like to promote the fairies?

[Hookian]

Shockingly enough I do think OUAT has much more loyal fans then other shows. And honestly the show aires on Sundays. Completely different from any other night. What falls on one night, shouldn't connect to another night IMO.

[Souris]

This article about an ABC comedy pilot includes a list of what pilots they've ordered.