Fall TV Winners & Losers (2016)

WINNER: The fall's undisputed breakout hit is TV's No. 3 scripted series (trailing only Empire and The Big Bang Theory), and it outrates the No. 2 freshman launch (Fox's Lethal Weapon) by some 40 percent. Oh, and it is also very, very good.

LOSER:

Averaging a 0.9 rating-to-date (and thus arguably compromising How to Get Away With Murder's Season 3 numbers), Notorious had its freshman order cut to just 10 episodes, while Conviction (with a 0.8 rating) will top out at 13 episodes. Only three major network dramas (Elementary, The Exorcist and Scream Queens) rate lower.

WINNER: The Flash isn't only The CW's top-rated series, it also matches or beats 17 of the dramas from ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC. Supergirl meanwhile stuck her landing on The CW, placing No. 2 behind the scarlet speedster (and while parsing out meaningful B-stories to every supporting character).

LOSER: Most simply said: The network's quartet of superhero series average a 0.8 demo rating, while Jane the Virgin, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and now No Tomorrow combine for a 0.3. No Tomorrow already has been denied a back-9 order, while Crazy Ex stands as broadcast TV's lowest-rated (0.2), least-watched (500,000 viewers) scripted series.

WINNER: Coming off Stranger Things' domination of the summer's pop culture conversation, the streaming site has kept the buzz going with Luke Cage's muscular debut, new (and provocative) episodes of Black Mirror, and, of course, the return of some girls named Gilmore.

LOSER: The professionally acclaimed, personally polarizing veteran filmmaker's dip into the TV waters with Amazon's Crisis in Six Scenes made nary a ripple, as evidenced by a paltry 18 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

WINNER: After debuting to nearly 2 million viewers (placing fourth among recent HBO premieres behind True Detective, Game of Thrones and The Newsroom), the sci-fi series has held rock-steady in audience while building buzz and spawning all sorts of storyline speculations. It's precisely the sort of word-of-mouth hit and award-season bait that HBO needed after unceremoniously "un-renewing" Vinyl and facing a year where Thrones won't be Emmy-eligible.

WINNER: In its new Sunday home, the procedural is up 14 percent in weekly audience and up 12 percent in the demo versus Season 7, as well as improving on Madam Secretary's year-ago numbers in the time slot . With Scorpion improving on LA's most recent Mondays-at-10 tallies, CBS schedulers have on their hands a win-win-win situation.

WINNER: Days after the tepidly received Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll got silenced, the cabler successfully launched amid much acclaim both Better Things and Atlanta, proving — as did Baskets earlier in the year — it can still work magic with the half-hour format.

LOSER: ABC's decision to patch its problematic Tuesdays-at-10 hole with an existing series came with a steep price — a 33 percent decline in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s demo average, which at 0.9 only outrates 7 of the 38 other Big 4 dramas. Ghost Rider may have name recognition that pulled in a few looky-loos, but ghostly villains that would look at home in Disneyland's Haunted Mansion didn't scare up avid interest.

WINNER: Averaging 23.4 million nightly viewers across a full seven games — the last of which drew 40 mil aka a 25-year high for any MLB game, anywhere — the historically resonant Cubs/Indians match-up was no less than a grand slam for Fox.

LOSER: With 5 million viewers and a 1.7 demo rating, the cult film remake ranks a distant fifth (behind even Peter Pan Live) among TV's recent spate of musical events. Perhaps most disappointing of all, the prerecorded redo — featuring an arguably miscast lead — didn't seize the opportunity to improve on the original film's creaky weak spots.

WINNER: The winding-down of election season coupled with some savvy host and musical guest picks (Tom Hanks/Lady Gaga, Dave Chappelle/A Tribe Called Quest, Kristen Wiig) has delivered ratings superlatives in three out of this fall's first seven outings, as well as many watercooler moments.

WINNER: Averaging 4.3 million viewers and a 1.2 demo rating, the freshman comedy has proven a solid companion piece to Superstore. Yet more importantly, it has reinvigorated NBC's Thursday comedy brand, by bringing Kristen Bell and Ted Danson back to network TV in an innovative vehicle. And while NBC may ultimately lament series creator Michael Schur's fixed 13-episode ceiling, this could teach the networks a lesson that cable learned long ago: quantity isn't better than quality.

LOSER: Despite delivering moments both historical (Julia Louis-Dreyfus' sixth lead comedy actress win) and long overdue (Orphan Black chameleon Tatiana Maslany finally grabbing gold), this year marked the least-watched telecast ever, with just 11.3 million viewers. TV's biggest night thus placed a distant fourth behind the Oscars (34 mil), Grammys (25 mil) and Golden Globes (19 mil).

WINNER: Its numbers are down in Season 2, yet that 1.1 demo rating ties companion series Gotham for (a distant) second behind Fox's Empire — while averaging more viewers than its lead-in. Just as reliably, the supernatural-themed procedural — which was written off by some last winter as a midseason non-entity — is delivering one of broadcast TV's most quippy and occasionally bawdy hours.

LOSER: In renewing a show that averaged just 2.8 million viewers and a 1.1 demo rating in Live+Same Day numbers, Fox perhaps saw potential upside in the freshman run's DVR gains. Yet despite throwing a flurry of famous faces at the cast, Season 2 opened down — and has since fallen 50 percent, hitting all-time lows (of 1.7 mil/0.7) on Nov. 22.