Ratings: ‘Madam Secretary,’ ‘The Good Wife’ steady; ‘The Simpsons,’ ‘Family Guy’ recover
Sunday night was certainly an anomaly when it comes to TV scheduling, mostly because there are two specials in here that sort-of cloud things and make the ratings picture a little trickier to understand. It’s hard to guess just what some network’s expectations are for them, so with that in mind, we have to sort of project the sentiments in this ratings article … to go along of course with the numbers for some of your favorite established shows.
The winners – The clear one here is probably “The Simpsons,” who recovered nicely up to a 1.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic while “Family Guy” rose to a 1.3. Meanwhile, at least “Madam Secretary” and “The Good Wife” can boast that they held firm to their 1.2 and 1.0 ratings. Neither one of them is hitting any home runs here, but at least they fared on an even level.
Also, we’d say that ABC is probably feeling really happy at the moment with their “Disneyland 60” special. Sure, a 1.8 rating isn’t necessarily a grand slam, but it was a better number than anything else on network TV.
The losers – Despite their other comedies drawing better ratings, Fox is not getting any mileage out of “Cooper Barrett’s Guide to Surviving Life” (0.8) or “Bordertown” (0.7). We’d be surprised if either one of them survives to another season.
We’re unsure – Is NBC happy with a 1.4 rating for its “All-Star Tribute to James Burrows”? We’ll only know if they air another one of these in the future. It’s not a terrible number given that it surpassed much of scripted TV, but this special also had a lot of hype thanks to the “Friends” reunion and other stuff.
Michael Goldman
February 22, 2016 @ 10:19 pm
A 1.0 isn’t even close to a home run. It’s like hitting a foul ball in the catcher’s mitt. It’s terrible that The Good Wife is going out this way. The real losers are all the people who predicted that the James Burrows special would do a 5 or a 6 or better. The fact that CBS is willing to use the Friday/Sunday excuse for The Good Wife is also sad, especially how it seems to have problems doing better than a 1.2 most of the time. Since it seems they take in enough money on commercials to cover the show, they don’t feel the need to try and replace it with anything better.
Matt Carter
February 23, 2016 @ 6:10 am
My understanding is that its one of the most upscale shows out there — they’ve been willing to accept lower ratings thanks to wealthy viewers and nominations.
Michael Goldman
February 27, 2016 @ 12:51 am
I’m sure you’re right. The question is whether it’s right to accept the lower rating. Are the wealthy viewers actually buying the products that are being advertised when the show is on? Does this mean that CBS can get more money for a 30 second spot on Madam Secretary? ? Is it necessary to advertise it as one of the most upscale viewing shows out there because the rich people don’t know what to watch if it’s not advertised that way? I’m sure that The Walking Dead has an upscale viewing audience. It also has a bigger audience than The Good Wife has/had every time the new shows have gone head to head since season 2 of TWD. I’ve seen the Upscale Viewing audience notation in more than one article in the last 2 years about The Good Wife and Madam Secretary. is CBS paying the writers to put that in, or are the writers putting it in to try and get CBS to notice them and maybe give them a job? Just a thought. Thanks for writing.
Matt Carter
February 27, 2016 @ 4:18 am
Of course! Love talking ratings. I think the whole ‘upscale viewers’ is just a way to better sell the show at upfronts / other events with advertisers present. I don’t know rates but I know networks will find any way to make their numbers look bright and shiny.