NBC made news last week with the announcement of a new season of Law & Order. No word on when the twenty-first season will air, or if any previous cast members will return. The move does raise questions about the network's faith in its current set of freshman dramas, possibly with good reason. Speaking of freshman dramas, La Brea opened with strong numbers. The test will be if it can hold the audience in week two now that the looky-loos have had a peek. Ordinary Joe lost a ratings tenth and about a million viewers off its premiere. If it doesn't bounce up at least a little, it won't survive past its initial order. The Chicago show and New Amsterdam were all down a tenth from their premieres as well.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| Sunday Night Football | 5.6 | 19.7 | |
| Football Night In America | 2.3 | 8.4 | |
| The Voice (Monday) | 1.0 | 6.9 | |
| The Voice (Tuesday) | 0.9 | 7.4 | |
| Chicago Fire | 0.8 | 7.1 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| La Brea (premiere) | 0.8 | 6.4 | |
| Chicago PD | 0.8 | 6.2 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| Law & Order: SVU | 0.8 | 4.7 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| Chicago Med | 0.7 | 6.7 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| Law & Order: Organised Crime | 0.7 | 4.2 | |
| New Amsterdam | 0.4 | 3.5 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| Dateline (Friday) | 0.4 | 3.1 | |
| Ordinary Joe | 0.4 | 2.7 | |
| Dateline (Saturday) | 0.3 | 2.4 | |
| La Brea (rerun) | 0.2 | 2.3 | |
| Ordinary Joe (rerun) | 0.2 | 1.6 |
ABC premiered most of its dramas last week. Station 19 and The Rookie opened about where they ended last season. The Rookie is past the magic season three at this point. Fans might want to worry about its future if it doesn't rebound. It was not a good opening week for the network's medical dramas. Grey's Anatomy took a big hit. Its premiere was down more than three tenths from where it ended last season and opened with one of the lowest-rated episodes in its history. The Good Doctor sank another couple of tenths off where it ended last season to a new low as well. Big Sky opened about where it ended last season, which is still low. The only thing saving Big Sky and The Rookie right now is the fact A Million Little Things has even lower numbers, and will likely be cancelled first. The Wonder Years lost two tenths off its premiere episode. It's still in line with the rest of the Wednesday comedies and is in no danger at the moment.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| The Bachelor in Paradise | 0.8 | 2.8 | |
| Dancing with the Stars | 0.7 | 4.9 | |
| Station 19 (premiere) | 0.7 | 4.8 | |
| Grey's Anatomy (premiere) | 0.7 | 4.6 | |
| College Football | 0.6 | 3.3 | |
| The Most Magical Story on Earth: 50 Years of Walt Disney World | 0.5 | 3.8 | |
| The Conners | 0.5 | 3.5 | |
| The Goldbergs | 0.5 | 3.2 | |
| The Wonder Years | 0.5 | 2.7 | |
| The Good Doctor (premiere) | 0.4 | 4.0 | |
| Celebrity Wheel of Fortune (premiere) | 0.4 | 3.9 | |
| Big Sky (premiere) | 0.4 | 3.1 | |
| The Rookie (premiere) | 0.4 | 3.0 | |
| Supermarket Sweep (premiere) | 0.4 | 2.6 | |
| Home Economics | 0.4 | 2.1 | |
| 20/20 (rerun) | 0.3 | 2.3 | |
| A Million Little Things | 0.3 | 2.0 | |
| Global Citizen Live | 0.2 | 1.6 |
CBS wrapped the latest season of Big Brother last week, up a couple of tenths from the previous week's ratings. On the franchise front, NCIS held its premiere audience. NCIS: Hawai'i held its rating, however it lost a million viewers off its opening. FBI was steady as was FBI: International. FBI: Most Wanted dropped two tenths. The Eye set SWAT as the new lead-in for its Friday night shows. The move didn't hurt the show's numbers, it was even with its last season. However, Magnum PI opened down a tenth from where it was last season and Blue Bloods dropped two tenths from its previous season.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| Survivor | 1.0 | 5.9 | |
| Big Brother (Sunday) | 0.9 | 3.8 | |
| Big Brother (Wednesday) (finale) | 0.9 | 3.6 | |
| 60 Minutes | 0.8 | 7.2 | |
| NCIS | 0.7 | 8.0 | |
| FBI | 0.7 | 7.4 | |
| The Neighborhood | 0.7 | 5.4 | |
| Bob (Hearts) Abishola | 0.6 | 5.5 | |
| FBI: International | 0.5 | 6.0 | |
| FBI: Most Wanted | 0.5 | 5.6 | |
| NCIS: Hawai'i | 0.5 | 5.5 | |
| The Price Is Right Celebrates 50 Years | 0.5 | 3.8 | |
| Blue Bloods (premiere) | 0.4 | 6.0 | |
| Magnum PI (premiere) | 0.4 | 5.0 | |
| SWAT (premiere) | 0.4 | 4.7 | |
| Young Sheldon (rerun) | 0.4 | 3.6 | Renewed (through 2024) |
| Young Sheldon (rerun) | 0.4 | 3.2 | |
| Broadway's Back! | 0.4 | 2.7 | |
| 48 Hours | 0.2 | 2.4 | |
| FBI: International (rerun) | 0.2 | 1.9 | |
| Magnum PI (rerun) | 0.2 | 1.8 |
FOX premiered its Sunday animation block last week. The Simpsons opened well, up almost a whole rating point from where it was last season thanks to an NFL overrun. The Great North benefitted as well, up four-tenths. Bob's Burgers opened up two tenths and Family Guy gained a tenth from where it ended last season. The news was less good for the network's freshman shows. Alter Ego lost a tenth, but more importantly, it lost more than half of its lead-in audience. Our Kind Of People held steady but low. The Big Leap lost a ratings tenth but held its viewer numbers. Chances are both shows will be gone by Christmas.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| NFL Overrun | 6.2 | 22.6 | |
| The OT | 2.9 | 10.0 | |
| The Simpsons (premiere) | 1.2 | 3.5 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| The Masked Singer | 1.0 | 4.5 | |
| 9-1-1 | 0.8 | 5.4 | |
| The Great North (premiere) | 0.7 | 1.8 | |
| WWE: Friday Night Smackdown | 0.6 | 2.1 | |
| Bob's Burgers (premiere) | 0.6 | 1.6 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| Family Guy (premiere) | 0.6 | 1.6 | Renewed (through 2023) |
| Alter Ego | 0.5 | 2.5 | |
| The Resident | 0.4 | 3.0 | |
| Our Kind Of People | 0.3 | 1.5 | |
| Major League Baseball | 0.3 | 1.4 | |
| The Big Leap | 0.2 | 1.5 | |
| The Big Leap (rerun) | 0.2 | 0.9 | |
| Our Kind Of People (rerun) | 0.2 | 0.8 |
The CW premiered the eighth season of Penn & Teller: Fool Us to good numbers, at least by CW standards. Supergirl, DC's Stargirl, and Riverdale each lost one hundred thousand viewers last week. Dynasty wrapped its latest season down four hundred thousand views from the previous week. Roswell, New Mexico was steady.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| Coroner | 0.1 | 0.7 | Import |
| Penn & Teller: Fool Us (premiere) | 0.1 | 0.7 | |
| The Outpost | 0.1 | 0.6 | Cancelled |
| Penn & Teller Fool Us (rerun) | 0.1 | 0.5 | |
| Roswell, New Mexico | 0.1 | 0.5 | |
| DC's Stargirl | 0.1 | 0.5 | |
| Supergirl | 0.1 | 0.4 | |
| iHeartRadio Music Festival | 0.1 | 0.4 | |
| Penn & Teller Fool Us (rerun) | 0.1 | 0.3 | |
| In The Dark | 0.0 | 0.3 | |
| Dynasty (finale) | 0.0 | 0.3 | |
| Wellington Paranormal (rerun) | 0.0 | 0.2 | Import |
| Wellington Paranormal (rerun) | 0.0 | 0.2 | |
| Riverdale | 0.0 | 0.2 |
It seems most network ratings have not bounced back after the wacky season last year. These lower numbers may be the new normal moving forward. How are your favorite shows doing so far?
Written by LadyShelley on Oct 4, 2021
I think they were looking at the success of the Chicago shows over on NBC when they decided to run the FBI shows in the block. And on paper it makes sense. Chicago Fire, Med, and PD are consistently among the highest-rated dramas for the Peacock Network. I'm frankly surprised they didn't try the same thing with the NCIS's. The Friday night lineup has dragged in the ratings since the cancellation of Hawaii Five-0. That show was a stable ratings workhorse for the network.
S.W.A.T. opening was a nice surprise after mediocre last season. Glad I gave it a second chance, hoping it keeps the momentum.
In regards to the FBI franchise, I think opening all 3 shows with a sequential order was not the best move with respect to ratings.