Sunday TV ratings: NCIS NOLA up, American Idol down

By Alexandria Ingham | Feb 24, 2020

"Waiting for Monroe" - The team must track down a mysterious female assassin responsible for murders in Athens, Rome and London. Also, Wade's son tries to convince her to allow him to go on a police ride along for an article he's writing for his school paper on a Youth Outreach Program at the NOPD, on "NCIS: NEW ORLEANS" Sunday, Feb. 23 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured L-R: Vanessa Ferlito as FBI Special Agent Tammy Gregorio and Rob Kerkovich as Forensic Scientist Sebastian Lund Photo: Sam Lothridge/CBS ©2019 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved /

CBS had a stronger night with all shows up. Meanwhile, The Rookie returned with a big jump up but American Idol was down. Here is the Feb. 23 TV ratings.

NCIS: New Orleans jumped up in the Sunday TV ratings, and it certainly wasn’t alone. However, there were some shows that saw slips, including American Idol. Here’s a look at the Feb. 23 ratings and what they could mean for the future of the shows.

Let’s start with the bad news. American Idol lost 10% of its demo and 7% of its total audience. Despite this, the ratings were still the highest of the night, so there’s nothing to worry about here. While it’s sad from a writing perspective, network TV is moving towards more unscripted shows so American Idol is going to be around for a while.

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The dips for Duncanville and Good Girls are more concerning. The new FOX animated series lost 5% of its audience, while Good Girls dropped 8% in the total audience. Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist also lost 2% of its audience. These shows are already on the low side, which could mean the networks choose to cancel them.

Good Girls has a safety net with the Netflix deal. The others don’t have that, although it will be interesting to see how the shows are performing on Hulu after they air live.

Two shows we have been concerned about on Sundays have been NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans, but both saw upward ticks this week. It looks like the memo reached everyone that the shows are back from their breaks. NOLA‘s upward tick is especially reassuring. It was up 20% in the demo and 6% in the audience. While still at a low point, there’s hope that CBS will view the results as good for a Sunday.

The Rookie has also been on our radar. After an extended winter hiatus, there were fears that viewers wouldn’t return, but many wanted to know what would happen to Lucy Chen. With a 35% tick up in the demo and 32% tick up in the audience, it’s clear ABC didn’t need to worry. On top of that, the 0.8 demo rating was the highest for the timeslot and the highest out of all scripted shows for the whole night.

FOX had a mixed night. Bob’s Burgers saw the best ratings for the network, ticking up 16% in the demo and 4% in the total audience. Family Guy was also steady in the demo, but did drop 5% in the total audience to around Bob’s Burgers level.

Take a look at the Sunday TV ratings to see your favorite shows.

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What do you take from the TV ratings? Which shows are you most concerned about? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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