ABC had a bit of a busy week last week. Modern Family wrapped its eleventh and final season, up more than half a ratings point. Grey's Anatomy basically ended its season as well, as there are no more episodes filmed. It was even with the previous week. Who Wants to be a Millionaire premiered last week. The Rookie returned with a new episode, even with its last new episode. The series seems to have found its place following American Idol on Sunday. For Life was even once again.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| Modern Family (finale) | 1.6 | 7.4 | Final Season |
| Grey's Anatomy (finale) | 1.4 | 7.3 | Renewed |
| Station 19 | 1.3 | 7.5 | |
| A Modern Family Farewell | 1.3 | 6.6 | |
| American Idol (Sunday) | 1.2 | 6.9 | |
| Who Wants to be a Millionaire (premiere) | 1.1 | 6.2 | |
| The Conners | 1.0 | 6.2 | |
| America's Funniest Home Videos | 1.0 | 5.7 | Renewed |
| Celebrity Family Feud (rerun) | 1.0 | 4.9 | |
| Celebrity Family Feud (rerun) | 0.9 | 5.1 | |
| The Rookie | 0.8 | 5.9 | |
| Shark Tank | 0.8 | 4.8 | |
| Bless This Mess | 0.7 | 3.8 | |
| 20/20 | 0.6 | 3.5 | |
| Mixed-ish | 0.6 | 2.8 | |
| How To Get Away With Murder | 0.6 | 2.8 | |
| Black-ish | 0.6 | 2.7 | |
| For Life | 0.6 | 2.3 | |
| Who Wants to be a Millionaire: Secrets & Surprises | 0.5 | 2.9 | |
| Shark Tank (rerun) | 0.4 | 2.6 | |
| American Idol (rerun) | 0.3 | 2.0 |
CBS saw the return of Magnum PI last week, filling the empty slot left by Hawaii Five-0. It was even with its last new episode in January. Broke lost two tenths off its premiere. As long as it doesn't lose any more, it should be renewed. Man with a Plan ran back-to-back episodes, both were down two tenths from its premiere. All Rise was back after a couple of weeks off; it was even with its last new episode. Tommy was even as well, though low.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| Survivor | 1.5 | 7.8 | |
| ACM Presents: Our Country | 1.0 | 7.7 | |
| The Neighborhood | 1.0 | 7.2 | |
| 60 Minutes | 0.9 | 10.0 | |
| Bob (Hearts) Abishola | 0.8 | 6.7 | |
| Young Sheldon (rerun) | 0.8 | 6.7 | Renewed |
| NCIS (rerun) | 0.7 | 7.8 | |
| Bull | 0.7 | 7.2 | |
| Magnum PI | 0.7 | 7.2 | |
| MacGyver | 0.7 | 6.4 | |
| All Rise | 0.7 | 6.1 | |
| Man with a Plan | 0.7 | 6.0 | |
| Man with a Plan | 0.7 | 5.6 | |
| Broke | 0.7 | 5.3 | |
| Garth and Trisha Live (rerun) | 0.7 | 4.6 | |
| FBI (rerun) | 0.6 | 7.0 | |
| Tommy | 0.6 | 5.2 | |
| SEAL Team | 0.6 | 4.9 | |
| FBI: Most Wanted (rerun) | 0.5 | 5.0 | |
| SWAT | 0.5 | 3.8 | |
| Blue Bloods (rerun) | 0.4 | 5.5 | |
| 48 Hours | 0.4 | 2.8 | |
| ACM Presents: Our Country (rerun) | 0.3 | 2.3 |
NBC wrapped Manifest last week. The series ended its second season even with the previous week. The Blacklist gained a tenth. The Chicago shows returned after a week of repeats, all down from their previous new episodes.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| The Voice (Monday) | 1.5 | 9.6 | |
| Chicago Med | 1.2 | 9.1 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| Chicago Fire | 1.2 | 9.0 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| Ellen's Game of Games | 1.2 | 5.3 | |
| Chicago PD | 1.1 | 7.7 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| The Blacklist | 0.7 | 4.8 | Renewed |
| Manifest (finale) | 0.7 | 4.4 | |
| Dateline Friday | 0.6 | 3.4 | |
| Vintage SNL | 0.6 | 3.2 | |
| Will & Grace (rerun) | 0.6 | 2.7 | |
| Brooklyn Nine-Nine | 0.6 | 2.0 | Renewed |
| Dateline Saturday | 0.5 | 3.8 | |
| NBC Special Report Coronavirus | 0.5 | 3.3 | |
| The Blacklist (rerun) | 0.5 | 3.3 | |
| The Wall | 0.5 | 3.0 | |
| New Amsterdam (rerun) | 0.5 | 2.6 | Renewed |
| Superstore (rerun) | 0.5 | 2.5 | Renewed |
| Law & Order: SVU (rerun) | 0.4 | 2.7 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist | 0.4 | 1.9 | |
| Good Girls | 0.4 | 1.8 | |
| Little Big Shots | 0.3 | 2.6 | |
| Indebted | 0.3 | 1.4 |
FOX announced Duncanville was renewed for a second season last week. Otherwise, the network ran a schedule of mostly repeats and specials. The Masked Singer lost three tenths. LEGO Masters returned up a tenth. The Resident wrapped its third season even with its last new episode.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| The Masked Singer | 2.1 | 7.9 | |
| LEGO Masters | 1.2 | 3.6 | |
| The Resident (finale) | 0.8 | 5.1 | |
| Last Man Standing | 0.7 | 4.2 | |
| Empire | 0.7 | 2.8 | Final Season |
| WWE Friday Night Smackdown | 0.6 | 2.3 | |
| Last Man Standing (rerun) | 0.5 | 2.6 | |
| Family Guy (rerun) | 0.5 | 1.3 | |
| Bob's Burgers (rerun) | 0.5 | 1.1 | |
| 9-1-1 (rerun) | 0.4 | 2.3 | |
| Mental Samurai (rerun) | 0.4 | 1.6 | |
| The Simpsons (rerun) | 0.4 | 1.0 | Renewed |
| Duncanville (rerun) | 0.4 | 1.0 | Renewed |
| iHeartRadio Living Room Concert (rerun) | 0.3 | 1.3 | |
| 9-1-1 (rerun) | 0.2 | 1.2 | |
| Gordon Ramsay's 24 Hours To Hell And Back (rerun) | 0.2 | 1.0 | |
| The Simpsons (rerun) | 0.2 | 0.6 | |
| Bob's Burgers (rerun) | 0.2 | 0.6 |
The CW sprinkled in a few new episodes amongst the reruns. Whose Line held its audience from its premiere and took the top spot. Charmed gained a tenth and a hundred thousand viewers. Roswell, New Mexico was even in terms of ratings and viewers. Dynasty managed to find an extra hundred thousand viewers last week.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| Whose Line is it Anyway? | 0.2 | 0.9 | |
| Whose Line Is It Anyway? (rerun) | 0.2 | 0.8 | |
| Charmed | 0.2 | 0.7 | Renewed |
| Supergirl (rerun) | 0.2 | 0.6 | Renewed |
| Roswell, New Mexico | 0.1 | 0.6 | Renewed |
| Batwoman (rerun) | 0.1 | 0.5 | Renewed |
| Nancy Drew | 0.1 | 0.5 | Renewed |
| Arrow (rerun) | 0.1 | 0.5 | |
| Legends of Tomorrow (rerun) | 0.1 | 0.5 | Renewed |
| The Flash(rerun) | 0.1 | 0.4 | Renewed |
| Dynasty | 0.1 | 0.4 | Renewed |
| Batwoman(rerun) | 0.1 | 0.3 | Renewed |
| Supergirl (rerun) | 0.1 | 0.3 | Renewed |
Network execs are starting to sweat with several series' airing what amounts to finales early and numerous questions about when filming can restart. Upfronts were supposed to be in a few more weeks, through remote teleconferences. There's now some question if that will happen at all due to the uncertainty of when productions can resume filming. Expect more repeats and specials in the immediate future; and potentially delayed fall premieres in a few months.
Written by LadyShelley on Apr 13, 2020
True but the virus will accelerate that death like an 85 yo w/health issues is dying a slow death, COVID-19 just speeds up the process.
The NFL is just the last straw (admittedly a big straw) ... NHL, NBA, MLB, MLS, NASCAR ... hell even my fav, poker are all in a holding pattern or even some leagues scrapping the rest of their seasons or their starts. Cable companies have various sports channels in packages and those packages are the ones guys (mostly) are looking at canceling the longer they continue to air the 1992 & 1993 Blue Jay back-to-back championship games ... sure, fun to re-watch ... once.
Cable/satellite was already dying a slow death, not sure how much they can really blame C-19 for that. (but I'm sure they will try)
As for the NFL, it goes without saying football is the main money maker for whatever network wins the lottery to air the games. Ratings for games (even games with mediocre teams) are always several points and millions of viewers higher than whatever the top-rated scripted show might be. The NFL season is still months away, though, hopefully by then this will all be sorted and be a non-issue.
Just read an article about the potential loss of aprox 6 million cable users in US as money gets tight as the lock down continues and families look for ways to tighten the belt. Another article suggests upwards of 33% loss of subscribers (some just the sports packages, some the whole cable package) if sports do not come back, especially the NFL. Some of these losses can be picked up in the big cities as people get a simple, small antennae to watch the OTA networks but that won't help HBO etc.
The articles focused on the $$ losses the cable companies face but networks may also suffer if more eyeballs are lost and ratings continue to tank at an accelerated pace. :(