NBC premiered yet another Law & Order spinoff last week (for those interested this is the eighth iteration of the original Law & Order series). Law & Order: Organised Crime premiered with a crossover episode from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for a ratings one-two punch, proving there is still some water in that well. Manifest opened its third season down a tenth from where it was last season. Ratings won't mean much this season as third season shows are rarely cancelled. Chicago Med, Fire, and PD were back after a couple of weeks off. All three were up a tenth from their last new episodes. Young Rock and Kenan each lost a tenth. Debris also lost a tenth it couldn't afford and is likely done. Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist was pushed off to Sunday and lost two tenths as a result. This could be a sign the network isn't interested in renewing it.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| Law & Order: SVU | 1.7 | 8.0 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| Law & Order: Organised Crime (premiere) | 1.6 | 7.8 | |
| Chicago Fire | 1.0 | 7.3 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| Chicago PD | 1.0 | 6.4 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| Chicago Med | 0.9 | 7.2 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| The Voice (Monday) | 0.8 | 6.2 | |
| Manifest (premiere) | 0.6 | 4.0 | |
| Young Rock | 0.5 | 2.6 | |
| New Amsterdam | 0.4 | 3.4 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| Kenan | 0.4 | 2.0 | |
| The Blacklist | 0.3 | 3.2 | Renewed |
| PGA Golf (overrun) | 0.3 | 2.7 | |
| Debris | 0.3 | 2.6 | |
| Dateline (Friday) | 0.3 | 2.4 | |
| Law & Order: Organised Crime (rerun) | 0.3 | 2.1 | |
| Ellen's Game of Games | 0.3 | 1.7 | |
| Vintage SNL | 0.3 | 1.6 | |
| Good Girls | 0.3 | 1.3 | |
| This Is Us (rerun) | 0.2 | 1.9 | Renewed |
| Law & Order: SVU (rerun) | 0.2 | 1.6 | |
| Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist | 0.2 | 1.2 | |
| Ellen's Game of Games (rerun) | 0.2 | 1.1 |
ABC premiered Pooch Perfect last week, an American take on the Australian competition show. It opened okay, though it will be interesting to see how it does this week after the looky-loos are gone. The Rookie returned after a month off, even with its last new episode. The Good Doctor was up a tenth. The Goldbergs was down a tenth. Grey's Anatomy and Station 19 were even. Call Your Mother remained the lowest-rated scripted show, drama or comedy, on the network, and is likely done at the end of its current run.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| Grey's Anatomy | 0.9 | 4.5 | |
| American Idol (Sunday) | 0.8 | 6.2 | |
| Station 19 | 0.8 | 4.8 | |
| America's Funniest Home Videos | 0.7 | 5.7 | |
| American Idol (Monday) | 0.7 | 5.0 | |
| The Good Doctor | 0.6 | 4.4 | |
| Pooch Perfect (premiere) | 0.6 | 4.2 | |
| Shark Tank | 0.6 | 3.6 | |
| The Goldbergs | 0.5 | 3.2 | |
| The Conners | 0.5 | 3.2 | |
| American Housewife | 0.5 | 2.7 | |
| Black-ish | 0.5 | 2.4 | |
| Saturday Movie: The Ten Commandments | 0.4 | 4.1 | |
| The Rookie | 0.4 | 3.9 | |
| A Million Little Things | 0.4 | 2.6 | |
| 20/20 | 0.4 | 2.5 | |
| Mixed-ish | 0.4 | 2.0 | |
| Call Your Mother | 0.3 | 2.3 | |
| The Con | 0.2 | 1.6 | |
| Soul of a Nation | 0.2 | 1.4 |
CBS premiered United States of Al last week in a shuffle of its Thursday night comedy block. It opened well but may have cannibalised B Positive in the process as B Positive lost two tenths off its last new episode. The Equalizer returned after a month off, up a tenth. Clarice sank to new lows, losing two tenths off its last new episode. Better enjoy what's left as the show is done at the end of the season.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| NCAA Basketball (Saturday) | 2.9 | 12.0 | |
| NCAA Basketball (Monday) | 1.7 | 6.4 | |
| 60 Minutes | 1.1 | 9.2 | |
| The Equalizer | 0.8 | 7.4 | Renewed |
| Young Sheldon | 0.7 | 6.6 | |
| Blue Bloods | 0.6 | 6.0 | |
| NCIS: Los Angeles | 0.6 | 5.6 | |
| United States Of Al (premiere) | 0.6 | 5.3 | |
| NCIS: New Orleans | 0.6 | 4.9 | Cancelled |
| Magnum PI | 0.5 | 5.1 | |
| Mom | 0.5 | 5.0 | Cancelled |
| FBI (rerun) | 0.5 | 4.8 | Renewed |
| NCIS (rerun) | 0.4 | 5.0 | |
| MacGyver | 0.4 | 4.1 | |
| B Positive | 0.4 | 3.8 | |
| FBI: Most Wanted (rerun) | 0.4 | 3.5 | Renewed |
| Tough As Nails | 0.4 | 3.0 | |
| SEAL Team (rerun) | 0.3 | 2.0 | |
| SWAT (rerun) | 0.3 | 1.9 | |
| Clarice | 0.2 | 2.4 |
FOX premiered the second season of The Moodys last week. The Denis Leary comedy opened with back-to-back episodes that were down a couple of tenths from last season. The network also saw the opening of its Sunday animation block hit new lows. Cherries Wild wrapped its first season, losing two tenths and more than 500,000 viewers. Corporate sponsorship or not, it's done. Bless the Harts dropped another tenth it couldn't afford and could be done as well. FOX has other animated programs it can fill that slot with if needed.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| The Masked Singer | 1.2 | 5.0 | |
| Hell's Kitchen | 0.7 | 2.6 | |
| Game of Talents | 0.6 | 2.4 | |
| WWE: Friday Night Smackdown | 0.5 | 2.1 | |
| 9-1-1 (rerun) | 0.4 | 2.4 | |
| America's Most Wanted | 0.4 | 2.0 | |
| Family Guy | 0.4 | 1.3 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| The Simpsons | 0.4 | 1.2 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| Bob's Burgers | 0.4 | 1.1 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| The Resident (rerun) | 0.3 | 1.4 | |
| The Masked Singer (rerun) | 0.3 | 1.4 | |
| The Great North (rerun) | 0.3 | 0.8 | Renewed |
| The Moodys (premiere) | 0.2 | 1.0 | |
| The Masked Singer (rerun) | 0.2 | 0.9 | |
| Game of Talents (rerun) | 0.2 | 0.7 | |
| Bless The Harts | 0.2 | 0.6 | |
| Cherries Wild (finale) | 0.1 | 0.5 |
The CW premiered Wipeout in conjunction with TBS last week. Since the show belongs to TBS, any ratings it garners on the CW will have little to no bearing on its renewal status. Supergirl opened its final season at the same lows it was last season, and about 500,000 viewers less than Superman & Lois in the same slot. Nancy Drew suffered the ignominy of a 0.0 rating for a primetime scripted program that was not a repeat.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| The Flash | 0.2 | 0.9 | Renewed |
| Supergirl | 0.1 | 0.7 | Final Season |
| Penn & Teller Fool Us (rerun) | 0.1 | 0.7 | |
| Penn & Teller Fool Us | 0.1 | 0.7 | |
| Penn & Teller Fool Us (rerun) | 0.1 | 0.6 | |
| Wipeout (premiere) | 0.1 | 0.6 | Import |
| Bulletproof | 0.1 | 0.5 | Import |
| Riverdale | 0.1 | 0.5 | Renewed |
| Batwoman | 0.1 | 0.4 | Renewed |
| Charmed | 0.1 | 0.3 | Renewed |
| Nancy Drew | 0.0 | 0.4 | Renewed |
| All American Stories | 0.0 | 0.2 |
Networks are doing their best to stretch what remaining episodes they have into May for sweeps. For many shows, the sporadic airing of episodes could do more harm than good in the long run. How are your favorites doing as we near the end of a wild and strange TV season?
Written by LadyShelley on Apr 5, 2021
Exactly :)
But sci-fi procedural will be pricey, so why pay more when you just can build another precinct or government agency office. I suspect that half of those shows simply recycling each other's locations and sets. And actors )))
The excuse is always that sci-fi is niche, but I agree NBC (or gods help us FOX) are not sci-fi friendly networks. Mainstream audiences seem to want procedurals. Look how many there are across the five networks: The NCISs, the Law & Orders, the Chicago everythings, 9-1-1 for every state. Even the CW is in that mix with their most popular show being Walker. Maybe what the savvy show producer needs to do is make a procedural set in space ... hmm.
I wonder why NBC even bothers with sci-fi shows. I think it's obvious that the majority of their audience is not interested in the genre. I'm surprised that Manifest is still having decent numbers (probably because of the cast), but it's a season premiere so well see next week.
Debris is definitely one of those underrated shows the network doesn't care about, which are being axed after one or two seasons. Reverie, Timeless, Revolution was also pretty decent shows which ended prematurely, and Debris probably next in the line.
The Goldbergs should be renewed based on ratings, not sure what's going on with their storyline that they may choose to end it. However, I would think if they were going that route, it would have been announced by now.
Magnum will be renewed. It's in its third season, and third season shows are only rarely cancelled. Even then there are other shows that are much more low hanging fruit before the network gets to the like of Magnum or MacGyver.
Things are not looking good for Prodigal Son. It's been the lowest-rated drama on the network for most of the season, and FOX seems to want to go in a more "reality" competition style of programs.
Clarice is done. It's just playing out the side at this point. Enjoy what's left and I hope for the fans of the show it doesn't end on a cliffhanger.
Kenan is an odd one. Its ratings have been middling at best, but Good Girls and Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist are both much lower and still get renewed so, chances are it will at least get a second season.
I'm not terribly interested in Kung Fu. I'm old enough to have watched the original (in reruns) and actually enjoyed Legend Continues for all of its cheesy glory. This version ...'eh. I'm not that excited about yet another 'let's just recast a woman in the lead role and call it representation', and the premise sounds like they want to take a more serious route this time instead of the silly fun of the previous versions. (Though I will give them chops for casting Asians in the lead roles this time.)
The shows I like on CW are all renewed, so that's nice, same with FBI: Most Wanted. Waiting to see if the others I like will be renewed - the Goldbergs, Prodigal Son and Magnum. Based on your ratings roundups, it sounds like Kenan and Clarice won't be coming back after their episodes are done airing. And there's a few shows premiering this week that look interesting enough for me to give a chance (Kung Fu, Rebel and Home Economics).