Ratings Roundup for the Week of January 2, 2022

CBS premiered Good Sam last week to weak numbers. If it doesn't come up, it will be rather short-lived. Ghosts picked up a tenth after the holidays, as did Bull. Magnum PI lost a tenth with its new lead-in of Undercover Boss. SWAT shifted to Sunday night and lost a tenth for its trouble. One interesting tidbit last week was a tweet by actor Eric Christian Olson regarding his return to filming with a hashtag of 'final season'. Unsure if he meant the final season for NCIS: Los Angeles or possibly his last season on the show. Ratings for NCIS: Los Angeles have been steady but the program is in its thirteenth season, so if actor contracts are up at the end of this season it could be that the show is getting too expensive to continue.

ABC had three new shows premiere last week. Comedy/reality series Judge Steve Harvey opened with strong numbers. Will it hold those numbers once the looky-loos have had their chance? Women of the Movement and Let the World See, two limited-run series' opened to okay ratings. Black-ish premiered its final season to good numbers. Abbot Elementary managed to hold its premiere audience from before Christmas. If it stays where it is, it should be fine. Queens has one more episode before it's shuffled off to the dustbin of cancelled shows. 

NBC premiered the final season of This Is Us last week up a couple of tenths from where it ended last season. Will it go out with a bang or a whimper? Kenan opened its second season with back-to-back episodes that were down compared to where it ended last season. Unless it comes up, it won't see a season three. Freshman comedy American Auto is holding steady after its premiere before the holidays. As long as it doesn't lose anything, it should be renewed. The same can't be said for Grand Crew. It, along with Kenan, are the lowest-rated comedies for the network. It wouldn't be much of a surprise if one or both are cancelled. 

FOX premiered two more reality shows last week along with the scripted drama, The Cleaning Lady. The Cleaning Lady opened well and should be fine as long as it doesn't lose much off its premiere. Next Level Chef, another Gordon Ramsay vehicle opened with big numbers thanks to an NFL overrun. The episode that aired in its normal slot lost a significant portion of that audience, thanks in part to the rough opening for I Can See Your Voice, which lost three tenths from where it ended last season. Joe Millionaire: For Richer Or Poorer opened with okay numbers. 9-1-1 Lone Star opened down a tenth from where it ended last season. 

The CW execs surprised their staff last week with the news they plan to sell the joint network to the highest bidder. For those unaware, the CW is owned through a partnership of CBS and Warner Bros. after merging now-defunct mini-networks UPN and The WB in 2006. As a result, the network was in the awkward position of maintaining a balance between CBS-produced shows and those created through Warner Bros. So far, there's no news on who may end up buying the network or what any sale means for currently running shows. 

As for ratings, the network ran mostly repeats last week. A new episode of Penn & Teller: Fool Us topped the chart for the network. Nancy Drew managed to find a couple hundred thousand viewers more than it had before the holidays. Still, nothing from Killer Camp since its disastrous opening two weeks back in October. The show is done, the only question is how, or if, the network will burn off any remaining episodes it has. 

Lots of new shows premiered last week across the various networks. Which ones have you excited as we start the new year?