CBS premiered the last of its fall shows last week, including three more freshman programs. The Equaliser returned for its third season with a strong premiere. Those numbers helped boost freshman series, East New York. Assuming the show doesn't lose much in its second week, East New York shouldn't be in any danger. Fire Country opened with good numbers for a Friday night show, and should also see a back nine order and a probable season two. The outlook is not so rosy for The Real Love Boat. Even for a reality show, those are terrible premiere numbers, and they are only going to sink (ahem) further in the second week. So Help Me Todd managed to hold most of its premiere audience, but it can't afford to lose any viewers.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| NFL Overrun | 6.47 | 24.6 | |
| 60 Minutes (premiere) | 1.33 | 10.3 | |
| Survivor | 0.80 | 5.1 | |
| The Equaliser (premiere) | 0.66 | 7.1 | Renewed |
| FBI | 0.57 | 7.0 | Renewed |
| The Neighborhood | 0.52 | 5.5 | |
| Ghosts | 0.49 | 6.0 | |
| Young Sheldon | 0.48 | 6.7 | Renewed |
| FBI: International | 0.46 | 6.0 | Renewed |
| East New York (premiere) | 0.46 | 5.3 | |
| FBI: Most Wanted | 0.45 | 5.3 | Renewed |
| Bob (Hearts) Abishola | 0.44 | 5.1 | |
| NCIS | 0.43 | 6.9 | |
| Blue Bloods (premiere) | 0.40 | 6.1 | |
| Fire Country (premiere) | 0.40 | 5.7 | |
| SWAT (premiere) | 0.40 | 4.6 | |
| NCIS: Hawai'i | 0.34 | 4.9 | |
| So Help Me Todd | 0.34 | 4.4 | |
| CSI: Vegas | 0.32 | 3.2 | |
| The Amazing Race | 0.30 | 2.4 | |
| So Help Me Todd (rerun) | 0.29 | 2.7 | |
| The Real Love Boat (premiere) | 0.26 | 2.4 |
ABC premiered Alaska Daily last week to middling numbers. It might squeak a back nine order assuming it doesn't drop much in the coming weeks. The Rookie: Feds is not likely to have much of a future. It might get a back nine order to plug schedule holes, but its chances for a season two are fading fast. Big Sky showed some signs of life last week, picking up half of a ratings tenth and four hundred thousand viewers.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| The Bachelor in Paradise (Tuesday) | 0.70 | 6.5 | |
| The Bachelor in Paradise (Monday) | 0.56 | 2.1 | |
| Grey's Anatomy (premiere) | 0.55 | 4.0 | |
| Station 19 (premiere) | 0.51 | 4.6 | |
| Abbott Elementary | 0.48 | 2.6 | |
| The Conners | 0.46 | 3.6 | |
| Shark Tank | 0.40 | 3.2 | |
| The Good Doctor (premiere) | 0.39 | 3.5 | |
| Celebrity Jeopardy! | 0.37 | 3.5 | |
| Celebrity Wheel of Fortune | 0.36 | 3.2 | |
| The Goldbergs | 0.36 | 2.2 | |
| America's Funniest Home Videos (premiere) | 0.34 | 3.8 | |
| Alaska Daily (premiere) | 0.32 | 3.6 | |
| Home Economics | 0.32 | 1.9 | |
| The Rookie | 0.30 | 2.9 | |
| 20/20 | 0.30 | 2.7 | |
| The Rookie: Feds | 0.30 | 1.8 | |
| Big Sky | 0.24 | 2.3 |
NBC was business as usual last week. Quantum Leap lost another two hundred thousand viewers but seems to have stabilised. Assuming it doesn't fall any farther, it might see a second season. La Brea held its premiere audience and is likely safe. All of the Law & Order shows lost a few hundred thousand viewers last week. The Peacock execs do love their franchises, though, so all three will likely be renewed.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| NFL Football | 5.53 | 20.8 | |
| Football Night In America | 1.58 | 6.3 | |
| Chicago Fire | 0.77 | 7.3 | Renewed |
| The Voice (Monday) | 0.71 | 6.6 | |
| The Voice (Tuesday) | 0.70 | 6.5 | |
| Chicago PD | 0.68 | 5.9 | Renewed |
| Chicago Med | 0.64 | 6.7 | Renewed |
| Law & Order: SVU | 0.56 | 4.2 | |
| La Brea | 0.44 | 3.9 | |
| Law & Order | 0.44 | 3.9 | |
| Law & Order: Organised Crime | 0.41 | 3.0 | |
| Quantum Leap | 0.36 | 2.6 | |
| New Amsterdam | 0.31 | 2.8 | Final Season |
| Dateline (Friday) | 0.30 | 2.2 | |
| Capitol One College Bowl | 0.20 | 1.7 |
FOX saw its Sunday animation block return to normal without an NFL overrun to boost the numbers. The Cleaning Lady managed to pick up one hundred thousand viewers. Monarch lost another two hundred thousand viewers it couldn't afford. Fans should prepare for the fact the show is done. Welcome to Flatch was steady, while Call Me Kat lost more ground, and may not have much of a future.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| The Masked Singer | 0.67 | 4.2 | |
| 9-1-1 | 0.64 | 5.0 | |
| WWE Smackdown | 0.50 | 2.1 | |
| The Simpsons | 0.47 | 1.5 | |
| Bob's Burgers (rerun) | 0.39 | 1.2 | |
| Family Guy | 0.39 | 1.1 | |
| The Cleaning Lady | 0.37 | 2.3 | |
| Bob's Burgers | 0.37 | 1.1 | |
| Hell's Kitchen | 0.36 | 1.8 | |
| The Great North | 0.35 | 1.1 | |
| LEGO Masters | 0.34 | 1.5 | |
| The Resident | 0.32 | 2.7 | |
| The Simpsons (rerun) | 0.28 | 1.0 | |
| Welcome To Flatch | 0.18 | 0.8 | |
| Monarch | 0.17 | 1.6 | |
| Call Me Kat | 0.16 | 1.1 |
The CW premiered part of its regular season programming last week. Walker returned for its third season taking the top spot on the ratings chart for the network. That helped Walker: Independence open with a little more than half a million viewers. Kung Fu opened its third season with a decent rating, but low viewer numbers. No CW show is safe at the moment. Nexstar has been mum on where it wants to take the network moving forward, only giving a few hints about expanding the viewer demographics. It's going to be a long, nail-biter of a season for any fans of CW shows this season.
| Program | Rating | Millions of Viewers | Renew/Cancel |
| Walker (premiere) | 0.08 | 0.8 | |
| Kung Fu (premiere) | 0.07 | 0.4 | |
| Walker: Independence (premiere) | 0.05 | 0.6 | |
| DC's Stargirl | 0.05 | 0.4 | |
| iHeartRadio Music Festival | 0.04 | 0.5 | |
| Coroner (premiere) | 0.03 | 0.4 | Import |
| Family Law (premiere) | 0.03 | 0.3 | Import |
| Leonardo (finale) | 0.03 | 0.3 | Import |
| Mysteries Decoded: Spirit Squad | 0.03 | 0.2 | |
| Devil (finale) | 0.03 | 0.2 | Import |
| Mysteries Decoded (rerun) | 0.02 | 0.3 |
The Fall 2022 season is now off and running. Have you watched any of the freshman programs this season?
Written by LadyShelley on Oct 10, 2022
:)
I'm not sure if it's Marcia Gay Harden or the fact the show is one of those programs that doesn't neatly fit into a set definition, so the marketing team doesn't really know how to sell it. Is it an hour-long comedy? Is it a drama? Right now, it's the second lowest scripted show on CBS, which is the bad news. If there is some good news, CBS only has one more hour-long scripted show to premiere (True Lies). So it could squeak another season simply from the fact the network doesn't have anything in the wings to replace it.
So Help Me Todd is a good show...I think the reason its doing so bad is because marcia harden is not universally liked and people might not give it a chance because of that...I hope they don't cancel it ...
So a six-episode pickup, but not nine ... hmm. Assuming NBC is shifting to shorter seasons in general (CSI:Vegas and La Brea were short seasons their freshman year too) I can see QL making it to the end of its first season intact. But it really does need to improve if it wants to guarantee a future for itself. Those NBC quotes are pure spin, so take them with a grain of salt.
Fire Country looks interesting, but I'm not sure how a show dealing with wildfires is going to have long-term legs. It's been tried before without much success.
Viewership has tanked across the board. Hell's Kitchen has two things going for it: It's fairly cheap to produce, and it still pulls in nearly two million viewers so it's probably safe. Masked Singer is the same. "Reality" shows, and competition shows, they are cheap to make, so networks are willing to use them as schedule spackle where needed.
I watched the pilot for Walker: Independence and enjoyed it. I've always enjoyed westerns, so it's nice to see one with what seems to be an interesting mystery attached. We'll see if it survives. I hope so.
I liked Fire Country. Good cast, interesting plot. I feel confident it will be renewed.
Some interesting news about Quantum Leap were released by NBC:
• NBC has ordered six additional episodes of its new drama series "Quantum Leap", bringing its season one total to 18 episodes.
• "Quantum Leap" is the season's #1 new show in the 18-49 demo based on most current data.
• "Quantum Leap" is the #1 NBC current season series on Peacock, and is a Top 5 title on Peacock season-to-date across all genres.
• The Wall Street Journal calls the series "a cult classic in a new body" and that is has "a number of welcome nods to the past". Variety adds "the fun of each episode comes with finding out what imbroglio Ben has zapped into this time and figuring out the details as he does".
I'm starting to feel reservedly optimistic about its future.
Thanks for this week's ratings roundup, @LadyShelley! :)
Looks like The Masked Singer is still doing good for FOX, even though it's still down from previous seasons. I do wonder how long Hell's Kitchen will continue considering the viewership has dropped drastically over the years.
Even though So Help Me Todd is on week 2, I just watched the pilot. I liked Walker: Independnce and Fire Country.