Soft Start for ‘The Catch’ on ABC

THURSDAY MARCH 24, 2016
Fox: 5.6 rating.9 share, ABC: 5.2/ 9, CBS: 4.4/ 7, NBC: 2.6/ 4, CW: 0.6/ 1

Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening
Fox: +75, CW: no change, ABC: – 9, CBS: -21, NBC: -35

Ratings Breakdown:
Two-hours of “American Idol” on Fox was enough to dominate Thursday in the household overnights, with a 5.6 rating/9 share from 8-10 p.m. Comparably, that was an improvement of 75 percent, on average, over the year-ago pairing of dramas “Bones” and “Backstrom.”

In series-premiere news, ABC drama “The Catch,” from Shonda Rhimes, opened with a disappointing 4.6/ 8 at 10 p.m. While that did dominate the 10 p.m. hour, it slipped by 6 percent from lead-in “Scandal” (#2: 4.9/ 8 from 9-10 p.m.). And it was only 14 percent above year-ago occupant “American Crime” (4.3/ 7 on 3/25/15). Since most new series drop in the vicinity of 10 to 20 percent in week two, this is by no means a positive start for “The Catch.”

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Earlier in the evening on ABC was veteran “Grey’s Anatomy” at a consistent (and dominant) 6.0/10 from 8-9 p.m.

In the ongoing March Madness, coverage of two more match-ups on NCAA Basketball on CBS (Miami vs. Villanova and Maryland vs. Kansas) averaged a 4.4/ 7 in the household overnights in primetime. Comparably, that was 21 percent, on average, below the two games on CBS on the year-ago evening.

Elsewhere, NBC had nothing unusual to report with its combination of failing “You, Me and the Apocalypse” (#4: 1.8/ 3), a repeat of “The Blacklist” (#4: 2.1/ 4) and “Shades of Blue” (#2: 3.7/ 7). Comparably, “Shades of Blue” increased by 76 percent from “The Blacklist” encore. And The CW populated this fourth Thursday in March with repeats of “D.C.’s Legends of Tomorrow” (#5: 0.8/ 1) and “The 100” (#5: 0.6/ 1).

Source: Nielsen Media Research