TV Ratings Monday: ‘APB’ stumbles in week 2, ‘Timeless’ ticks up, ‘Apprentice’ finale flat

Masked Scheduler's Ratings Smackdown

CBS has to be cautiously optimistic about "Superior Donuts." On the other hand, little afterglow for the FOX dystopian night of programming. Where's Jack Bauer when you need him? Oh yeah, he's over on ABC being presidential.
"Jane the Virgin" again proved the old adage "kill a character, get a rating" -- up 33% from last week. Thank goodness for small numbers.
Yesterday I observed that two networks scheduled theatrical repeats against the Grammy Awards. Theatricals were once a large quiver in the scheduler's arsenal. Scheduling movies, both theatricals and made-fors, was one of my favorite parts of the job. At NBC the late John Agoglia and I would purchase theatricals and then it was my responsibility to figure out how to monetize them.
Here's a tale of scheduling theatricals:
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES
As you know by now I am a big believer in research. At NBC we did "concept testing" on every movie to help marketing, but I found the data useful in scheduling the movies as well. We also did competitive studies putting movies against hypothetical events on the other networks. We did this every sweeps period.
I believed in what I called the preponderance of the evidence, i.e. something tested well over and over again where you couldn’t deny the data. That was the case with "Fried Green Tomatoes," which was a throw-in to a package of Universal movies.
We tested it in several ways and "FGT" consistently scored. I scheduled it on Mother's Day in a May sweep. I took a lot of flack because it was not seen as a top-shelf movie and there was a tradition of scheduling male-oriented movies on this day.
I pointed to the data and we popped a number.
In January I scheduled the second run against the American Music Awards. I can’t remember if we beat it but we came close and, because I was a competitive a-hole, I sent a tray of fried green tomatoes over to my counterpart at ABC.
Those were fun times in the business. I’ll share a few more tomorrow: "Tremors" and "Quigley Down Under."
Yesterday’s schedule:
- "The Walking Dead" (AMC L+1) Welcome back, and loved the weed whacker moment.
- "Legion" (FX L+5) I Finally got around to it. Fantastic. How can you not like a show that starts with "Happy Jack" and "She's a Rainbow." One "issue" -- a little too "Mr. Robot"-y -- but looking forward to episode two.
- West Va./KU (ESPN) Another Big12 masterpiece. You all need to visit Allen Field House in Lawrence.
- "24: Legacy" (FOX L+SD) Some of you questioned why I call it a comedy. Do you watch it? I’m not being critical.
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Broadcast primetime live + same-day ratings for Monday, Feb. 13, 2017

The numbers for Monday include a significant decline for a FOX show and a small uptick for an NBC series:

FOX’s new Monday lineup took a hit in its second week, with both “24: Legacy” and “APB” declining. “24: Legacy” posted a 1.2 in adults 18-49, down 0.3 from last week, while “APB” (1.0) lost half a point week to week.

NBC’s “Timeless” improved slightly on its season low from last week, rising a tenth of a point to 0.7. The finale of “The New Celebrity Apprentice” drew a 0.9, even with last week.

ABC led the night with both “The Bachelor” (2.3) and “Quantico” (0.7) matching their early numbers from a week ago (“The Bachelor” adjusted up in the finals). CBS was also fairly steady, with “Superior Donuts” tying its final 1.4 from last week (and up from its initial 1.3) and “2 Broke Girls” (1.2) off a tenth.

“Supergirl” (0.8) and “Jane the Virgin” (0.4) are both currently up a tenth of a point vs. last week for The CW.

Network averages:

Late-night metered market ratings (adults 18-49, households):

11:35 p.m.

“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”: 0.6/3, 2.5/7

“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”: 0.6/3, 1.8/6

“Jimmy Kimmel Live”: 0.4/2, 1.7/5

12:35 a.m.

“The Late Late Show with James Corden”: 0.3/3, 1.3/5

“Late Night with Seth Meyers”: 0.3/3, 1.1/4

“Nightline”: 0.2/2, 1.1/4

Definitions:
Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent.
Fast Affiliate Ratings: These first national ratings are available at approximately 11 a.m. ET the day after telecast. The figures may include stations that did not air the entire network feed, as well as local news breaks or cutaways for local coverage or other programming. Fast Affiliate ratings are not as useful for live programs and are likely to differ significantly from the final results, because the data reflect normal broadcast feed patterns. 
Share (of Audience): The percent of households (or persons) using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. 
Time Shifted Viewing: Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data – Live, Live +Same-Day and Live +7 Day. Time-shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs. Live+SD includes viewing during the same broadcast day as the original telecast, with a cut-off of 3 a.m. local time when meters transmit daily viewing to Nielsen for processing. Live +7 ratings include  viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast.

Source: The Nielsen Company.