NBC premiered most of its slate of dramas last week. In a pleasant change, Chicago Med, Fire, and PD were all about even with where they ended in the Spring. Law & Order: SVU was down a couple of tenths, as was The Blacklist and This Is Us.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| Sunday Night Football | 5.0 | 16.9 | |
| Football Night in America | 1.6 | 5.6 | |
| This Is Us | 1.3 | 6.8 | Renewed (through 2022) |
| Chicago Med (premiere) | 1.2 | 7.8 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| The Voice (Tuesday) | 1.1 | 7.6 | |
| The Voice (Monday) | 1.0 | 7.2 | |
| Chicago Fire (premiere) | 1.0 | 7.2 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| Chicago PD (premiere) | 1.0 | 6.4 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| Law & Order: SVU (premiere) | 0.6 | 3.0 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| Transplant | 0.5 | 3.9 | Import |
| The Weakest Link | 0.5 | 3.4 | |
| Superstore | 0.5 | 2.3 | |
| The Blacklist (premiere) | 0.4 | 3.6 | |
| Dateline | 0.4 | 3.2 | |
| Vintage SNL | 0.3 | 2.1 | |
| Law & Order Paley Special | 0.3 | 1.9 | |
| Superstore (rerun) | 0.3 | 1.5 | |
| American Ninja Warrior (rerun) | 0.3 | 1.4 | |
| American Ninja Warrior (rerun) | 0.2 | 1.3 |
ABC premiered Grey's Anatomy and Station 19 last week. Station 19 started the fall about where it ended in the Spring. Grey's Anatomy was down a couple of tenths. The Good Doctor lost a tenth from its premiere. The Country Music Awards lost an entire point from last year's ceremony.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| The Bachelorette | 1.7 | 5.3 | |
| Grey's Anatomy (premiere) | 1.3 | 5.9 | |
| Station 19 (premiere) | 1.2 | 6.6 | |
| College Football | 1.2 | 4.9 | |
| CMA Awards | 1.1 | 7.1 | |
| Dancing with the Stars | 0.9 | 6.0 | |
| America's Funniest Home Videos | 0.7 | 5.0 | |
| Shark Tank | 0.7 | 4.3 | |
| Supermarket Sweep | 0.7 | 3.3 | |
| The Good Doctor | 0.6 | 4.7 | |
| 20/20 | 0.6 | 3.4 | |
| Who Wants to be a Millionaire | 0.5 | 3.1 | |
| Alex Trebek Remembrance | 0.4 | 3.5 | |
| Country Strong | 0.4 | 2.2 |
CBS premiered its Sunday night NCIS shows last week with a little bump from an NFL overrun. NCIS: Los Angeles was up a tenth from where it ended in the Spring. NCIS: New Orleans was even with its Spring numbers. SWAT opened its fourth season down a couple of tenths from the spring, depending on where other dramas settle, that number could be a problem. B Positive lost a tenth off its premiere, time will tell if it survives. The Unicorn opened low, if it wants to survive to see season three, its numbers need to come up a bit. Young Sheldon was up a tenth from its premiere.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| 60 Minutes | 2.0 | 14.0 | |
| NFL Overrun | 1.4 | 10.4 | |
| Young Sheldon | 0.8 | 7.4 | |
| NCIS: Los Angeles (premiere) | 0.8 | 6.3 | |
| The Amazing Race | 0.7 | 3.7 | |
| Mom | 0.6 | 5.2 | |
| NCIS: New Orleans (premiere) | 0.6 | 4.6 | |
| B Positive | 0.5 | 4.9 | |
| FBI (rerun) | 0.5 | 4.4 | |
| NCIS (rerun) | 0.4 | 5.0 | |
| The Unicorn (premiere) | 0.4 | 4.1 | |
| The Neighborhood (rerun) | 0.4 | 3.3 | |
| NCIS: New Orleans (rerun) | 0.4 | 3.0 | |
| Bob (Hearts) Abishola (rerun) | 0.4 | 2.9 | |
| SWAT Special | 0.4 | 2.7 | |
| SWAT (premiere) | 0.4 | 2.6 | |
| Blue Bloods (rerun) | 0.3 | 2.9 | |
| 48 Hours | 0.3 | 2.9 | |
| FBI Declassified (finale) | 0.3 | 2.8 | |
| MacGyver (rerun) | 0.3 | 2.6 | |
| Undercover Boss | 0.3 | 2.4 | |
| Bull (rerun) | 0.3 | 2.3 | |
| Star Trek: Discovery | 0.3 | 2.0 | Import |
| All Rise (rerun) | 0.2 | 2.1 | |
| Bull (rerun) | 0.2 | 2.1 | |
| NCIS: Los Angeles (rerun) | 0.2 | 2.0 |
FOX continued to burn off episodes of Filthy Rich and neXt last week. The Sunday night animation block returned to normal without an NFL boost last week. The Simpsons was down a full point, Bob's Burgers lost two tenths, Family Guy was down a tenth, while Bless The Harts lost almost half a point.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| NFL Thursday Night Football | 3.5 | 12.2 | |
| Thursday Night Football Pregame | 2.0 | 7.4 | |
| The Masked Singer | 1.6 | 6.1 | |
| I Can See Your Voice | 0.9 | 3.4 | |
| The Simpsons | 0.7 | 1.7 | |
| WWE Friday Night Smackdown | 0.6 | 2.1 | |
| Family Guy | 0.6 | 1.5 | Renewed |
| Bob's Burgers | 0.6 | 1.4 | Renewed |
| College Football | 0.5 | 1.8 | |
| LA's Finest | 0.4 | 1.6 | Import |
| The Simpsons (rerun) | 0.4 | 1.3 | |
| Bless The Harts | 0.4 | 1.2 | |
| Bob's Burgers (rerun) | 0.4 | 1.1 | |
| Cosmos | 0.3 | 1.3 | Import |
| Filthy Rich | 0.3 | 1.2 | Cancelled |
| neXt | 0.3 | 1.0 | Cancelled |
The CW execs are really going to miss Supernatural after its finale airs. Other than The Flash, Supernatural is the only show on the network that reliably garners at least a million viewers. Pandora racked up another zero rating last week. The Outpost was even.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| Supernatural | 0.3 | 1.0 | Final Season |
| Whose Line Is It Anyway (rerun) | 0.2 | 0.8 | |
| Whose Line Is It Anyway (rerun) | 0.2 | 0.8 | |
| Swamp Thing | 0.1 | 0.7 | Import |
| Penn & Teller Fool Us (rerun) | 0.1 | 0.6 | |
| Coroner | 0.1 | 0.5 | Import |
| iHeartRadio Music Festival (rerun) | 0.1 | 0.5 | |
| Tell Me A Story | 0.1 | 0.4 | Import |
| Devils | 0.1 | 0.4 | Import |
| The Outpost | 0.1 | 0.4 | Renewed |
| Whose Line Is It Anyway (rerun) | 0.0 | 0.3 | |
| Whose Line Is It Anyway (rerun) | 0.0 | 0.3 | |
| Pandora | 0.0 | 0.2 |
More and more network shows are premiering now, just in time for the holiday break. It will be interesting to see which shows manage to recover from the scheduling challenges and which ones will fade into the sunset. How are your favorites doing?
Written by LadyShelley on Nov 16, 2020
Ahh the mysteries of pilot season. :) Networks buy all kinds of shows, hoping a few of them with stick when thrown up on a schedule. I'm not sure when FOX signed off on picking up the two shows to know what was going on in the world at the time. Maybe the execs thought the plots would be more relevant or have more appeal. Networks are also relentless copy-cats. If this plot idea is popular on Network A, let's reap some of that popularity and create a show that does something similar.
The first nail in the coffin for both neXt and Filthy Rich was when they were pushed off the fall 2019 schedules. Relegated to mid-season replacement is rarely a benefit for a show. Networks only have to pay for 13 episodes instead of potentially 22-24 to fill a full season, so there's less risk in the long-run. FOX Is also an odd-duck network, in that it seems to want to focus more on reality shows and sports over scripted dramas or comedies. So the two shows may be caught in that trap as well. The shows are needed to schedule patching and not much else.
I'm always hesitant about "ripped from the headlines" plotlines. They really don't age well, and I watch TV, in part, to escape all the COVID news. :)
I suspect there won't be holiday episodes this season just because the productions aren't sure when episodes will air.
I guess I'll never understand that. If you not confident in the show - why did you bought it in the first place? And since you already paid a dollar for it, why not spend a dime to promote it, and maybe earn something in the end? It's all better than just throw the money in a toilet.
On the other hand, what could you expect from asshats who canceled Firefly ((
It was good to see the Chicago trio & 2 NCIS Spin-off's back on screen & nice to see they kept them current with the pandemic theme, although the cliffhanger at the end of Fire had me screaming & cursing at the tv in a fashion that I will not repeat in here, lol.
Looking forward to the original NCIS this week, yay!
I really hope we'll get holiday episodes this year, as I always tend to enjoy those.
What sparks something in viewers is always a crapshoot. Part of the lack of audience interest may be that it was never really pushed by the network. FOX never had any intention of renewing it (or Filthy Rich for that matter). I suspect the network didn't have much confidence in either show, hence why neither of them aired last season as they were supposed to. If the network can't be bothered to promote a show, it's no wonder it doesn't find an audience.
I wonder, is there any reason for such low ratings of "neXt" other than it's absolutely ridiculous schedule? Who in their right mind would make a month-long gap after the first 2 episodes? It's a shame because the show is actually pretty good. It's maybe not very original (evil A.I. and stuff), but the writing, acting and directing are very decent.