Even ho-hum season has its winners and losers
The 2016-17 TV season ended last week, and it was not especially pretty. As streaming climbed, traditional TV ratings fell on much of broadcast and cable, even with DVR and ondemand viewing counted. Highlights and lowlights:
THIS IS US. The season’s breakout drama averaged nearly 15 million viewers, and was the biggest new series among young adults. Its emotional, heavily serialized storylines drew fans who caught on, and caught up: Comcast, which owns NBC, says the series smashed video-on-demand records in homes it serves with 38 million views.
BULL. Despite competing against Us, CBS drama Bull, led by former NCIS star Michael Weatherly, narrowly eclipsed it as the most-watched newcomer with 15.5 million viewers, and the network’s Kevin Can Wait was the top new comedy.
STEPHEN COLBERT. Donald Trump gave Late Show With
Stephen Colbert a boost. In his second season, Colbert jumped 11%, adding about 300,000 viewers, and narrowly took the total-viewer crown from NBC’s Jimmy Fallon-led Tonight
Show, which lost about 600,000. ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live also lost ground.
TIMELESS. NBC’s freshman drama traveled through time and, helped by fan support (it was the top pick in USA TODAY’s Save Our Shows poll), NBC reversed its cancellation after a few days.
BRIGHT SPOTS. Most shows shed viewers the longer they stay on the air. But a few scripted series actually won more: CBS stalwarts NCIS: Los Angeles, Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods. Among young-adult viewers, ABC’s The Bachelor grew 3%. DEPLETED SURVIVORS. Plenty of returning shows took ratings tumbles this season, but some that bled 35% or more were spared the ax, anyway, including NBC’s Blindspot, ABC’s Quantico and Fox’s Empire.