Ratings Report: Mid Season Premieres
Broadcast: Curtis Jackson, a.k.a 50 Cent, is back with another compelling drama, this time tackling the criminal justice system. For Life premiered on ABC February 11 with 3.15 million viewers, winning its 10 PM time slot on Tuesday night. There was an 18.13% decrease in viewers the second week airing with 2.58 million viewers. For Life concluded with an average of 2.866 million viewers for its first two weeks of the debut. 2.371 million people tuned in to watch Black-ish and it earned a .55 in the demos on February 11. The next week, Black-ish saw a decline in viewership with 2.329 million viewers watching and a .50 in demo. The prequel Mixed-ish practically stayed in the same realm of viewership and demos as its predecessor Black-ish. On February 11, it earned a .52 in the demos with 2.347 million viewers watching and a .50 in demos with 2.516 million viewers the following week. The crossover drama Station 19 has continued to perform well in its third season. For two weeks in a row, the demo has stayed at .94 and viewership had increased to 6 million viewers on February 13. On February 20, episode 5 earned a 1 in the demos with 6.272 million viewers.
CBS Monday nights remain strong, for the most part. Despite dwindling viewership, The Neighborhood remains the most-watched program of the night on CBS. It received a .86 in the demos and 6.402 million viewers on February 10. The next week saw a 4.65% increase in demo change and received an increase of 6.456 million viewers. Bob Hearts Abishola saw a slight uptick in viewership the past two weeks of February 10 and February 17. The 15th episode received 6.004 million viewers and the 16th episode had an increase of viewership with 6.124 million viewers. The legal drama All Rise has remained steady in viewership. On February 10, it received 5.656 million viewers and earned a .66 in demos. In the second week, February 17, it dropped 9% in the demos earning a .60 and had 5.366 million viewers tuning in. Although All Rise remains steady in viewership, it’s not living up to its potential. It is the lowest-rated show of CBS’ network freshman shows with the factoring of DVR and it is not getting much viewership in delayed viewing. Fans will just have to wait to see the future of this show. God Friended Me accumulated 5.424 million viewers on February 16 and 5.947 on February 23 with a 50% increase in demo change from .40 to .60. On the CW, the DC comic Black Lightning series has been in a bit of a roller coaster in the demos. On February 10, it had a -20.83% decrease receiving a .19 in demos and .654 million viewers, down 9% from the previous week. The high school football series All American received .777 million viewers and a .27 in demo on February 10 and .723 million viewers with a .30 in demos the following week on February 17.
NBC’s, Chicago Med remains the most-watched drama of the Chicago series on Wednesday nights. 8.42 million viewers combined tuned in Chicago Med from February 5 and February 12 episodes. From February 5 to February 12, the drama averaged 8.23 million viewers watching and averaging 1.09 in the 18-49 demos. In its 7th season, Chicago PD attracted more viewers as well, gaining 10% more viewers than season 6. The February 5 and February 12 episodes received an average of 7.07 million viewers tuning in.
While numerous shows recently made their way into America’s homes we had to say goodbye to another. After six seasons, Fresh Off the Boat had its hour-long series finale on February 21. The two-part finale had a total of 5.384 viewers tuning in for the last time. The comedy slipped in numbers over the years but it was a game-changer becoming the most successful sitcom showcasing an Asian-American family.
The month of January was an interesting one for daytime television. Due to the President’s impeachment trial, all of the soap operas were preempted from Tuesday, January 21 through Friday, January 24. NBC’s Days of Our Lives was the only soap to air all five days during January 20-24 since it was provided to affiliates who air the program before impeachment coverage began. The networks did what they could to accommodate fans showing episodes on their apps, Hulu, and on-demand services.
The Young and the Restless remained the most-watched daytime drama with 3.565 million viewers tuning in for the month of January. The Bold and Beautiful was the next most-watched with 2.6 million viewers, followed by General Hospital with 2.12 million viewers and Days of Our Lives with 1.9 million viewers.
Cable: Grown-ish remains strong amongst key audiences. On February 13, the dramedy premiered with .316 million viewers tuning in. The next week had a slight decrease in viewers with .293 million people watching. Ava DuVernay is back on OWN with a new show. The Anthology series Cherish the Day had a two-part premiere on Tuesday, February 11 and Wednesday, February 12. The two-part premiere debuted with a total of 1.014 million viewers. The second week premiered at .767 million viewers.Cherish the Day also had an increase in the 18-49 demos. The first night of its premiere had a .15 demo and by the third episode, it had a .16 in the demos. OWN network recently canceled a few of its scripted series after short seasons so hopefully, its viewership continues to climb in the weeks to come. Cherish the Day may be the new kid on the block but OWN’s Have and The Have Nots remains supreme. Despite its decline in viewership, The Haves and The Have Nots remains OWN’s highest-rated show. On February 11, the show premiered with 1.498 million viewers and on February 18, it premiered with 1.567 million viewers, averaging 1.53 million viewers in total for both weeks. BET’s new drama Sistas, written, directed, and produced by Tyler Perry, premiered back in October and has remained successful in ratings and in the demos. Its 14th and 15th episodes attained one million viewers and .962 million viewers on Wednesday, February 12 and February 19.
Streaming: The High Fidelity franchise is back yet again; this time on the small screen. This reimagined series follows a struggling record store owner, Rob (played by Zoe Kravitz), who revisits past relationships through music all while trying to get over her one true love. High Fidelity received critical praise and earned an 84% on Rotten Tomatoes. Netflix’s Sex Education continues its successful streak with critics on its season two launch. This witty comedy received a fresh 94% on its second season from Rotten Tomato critics.