‘This Is Us’ Ratings Hit New Series High, ‘The Mick’ Slips In Week 2 As Obama Farewell Dominates
UPDATE, 9:51 AM: Back for the first time in five weeks, it was a very good night for This Is Us on Tuesday with President Barack Obama’s farewell address as a lead-in.
Moved to 10 PM for the POTUS speech, the breakout NBC drama scored a 3.0 rating among adults 18-49 in Nielsen fast officials – a series high for the Dan Fogelman created series. That’s a bop up of 7% in the key demo from the December 6 airing of the Sterling K. Brown and Mandy Moore starring show, the previous high. It is also up 15% from the unadjusted fast affiliates of earlier this morning.
The top show of the night, including the Presidential address, This Is Us is the best NBC has done in the slot with a scripted show since the 3.1 rating that Parenthood pulled in on March 2, 2010. With 10.5 million viewers watching across the county, This Is Us is also the best the net has done in total audience in the 10 PM time period since June 2, 2009 when Law & Order: SVU scored 11.566 million viewers.
With all that, This Is Us moves back to its regular 9 PM time slot next week.
PREVIOUSLY, 9:16 AM: After a strong showing following the NFL playoff doubleheader last week Fox’s comedy The Mick (1.1) dropped two-tenths of a point in the 18-49 demo Tuesday on a night that was dominated by President Barack Obama’s farewell speech from Chicago. The Mick, which drew 3.0 million viewers at 8:30, matched its lead-in New Girl (1.1) this time after building on it last week as the network’s highest-rated show of the night.
The show meanwhile was given an additional four-episode order today after that special premiere after football on January 1 drew a 3.7 rating, the best comedy debut on Fox since New Girl.
Airing at 9 PM ET, Obama’s speech was carried on all Big 4 networks and in non-time-zone-adjusted fast nationals drew 24 million viewers (those will adjust later). The speech, which clocked 50 minutes, forced broadcasters to shift around their primetime schedules in the hour when it was announced.
The speech did throw a wrench in the reporting for NBC’s breakout freshman drama This Is Us, which returned after its winter break. It aired at 9 PM on the West Coast and 10 in the East Coast, so fast nationals are not reliable as it aired out of pattern. Still, it will be the highest-rated entertainment show of Tuesday. At 8 PM, NBC’s The Wall (1.7) was steady with its strong showing last week in the game show’s regular time slot.
ABC went with its comedy block of The Middle (1.7, even) at 8 and American Housewife (1.5, down a tenth) at 8:30. CBS aired repeats of NCIS at 8, and a Big Bang Theory/NCIS: New Orleans combo following the speech.
The CW aired No Tomorrow (0.2), which did not get a back order, during the speech.
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