NBC has had a problem with its half-hour comedies for years. Georgie & Mandy and Ghosts on CBS, and Shifting Gears, and Abbott Elementary on ABC prove there is a market for comedy shows, NBC just has a terrible track record for picking winners. The last time NBC had a successful comedy was The Good Place, and that ended five years ago. 

The One Chicago shows and the NCIS franchise over on CBS show that the procedural is alive and well. Audiences like them, and at least for the NCIS shows, the cast and crew are a well-oiled, mostly nine-to-five production, so costs are easier to predict. (I assume the Chicago shows are the same way, but I haven't seen any of them or their making-of material to say for certain.) 

As for the NBA, networks are aware that scripted content is moving more and more to streaming. Their gamble to stay relevant is live entertainment, meaning "reality" and competition-type shows and live sports. NFL football is huge. HUGE. Even a game with mediocre teams will draw 8-10 million viewers. A game with teams people want to watch, easily double that. Baseball, basketball, hockey, auto racing, all of that is a very distant second in terms of viewers. Networks know that, but yeah, an NBA game that doesn't even draw two million viewers is going to hurt. And it isn't a one-off. It's happened a few times already. NBC paid 76 BILLION dollars for that ten-year contract. They are not seeing the ROI they wanted when their comedies draw a bigger audience (and don't cost anywhere near the same amount). It would not surprise me in the least if the network finds some sort of loophole to push those games over to Peacock and bring back something else on Tuesday nights. 

@PrinceofNorth wrote:
I think that one of the reasons Brilliant Minds survived for a 2nd season, despite being on the lower sider of ratings chart in the first season was the breakout success of The Pitt mere days after it finished airing. They have even made major changes in the show to match The Pitt's energy like having two main ER characters and far ER scenes and producers when they were near zero in the first season .I think NBC was hoping that maybe this brand new medical drama would be able to capture some of that audience, but, alas it appears to have failed to do it. Getting audience of under 2 million is way to low and I think show's 7 day delay numbers would be very low too. But, it is not like NBA numbers are great, they are only average so far. I don't think general audience care about NBA until the Playoffs.

NBC has a problem in the drama department. If it isn't One Chicago or Law & Order, people don't seem to care about their dramas (their comedy slate usually fares just as badly). Last season, NBC's returning dramas outside of those franchises were Found and The Irrational. Its freshman shows last season consisted of Brilliant Minds, Suits LA, Groose Pointe Garden Society, and The Hunting Party. None of those shows lit the ratings chart on fire. Found and Irrational were both gone after two seasons of low ratings. And of the freshman shows, at least Brilliant Minds made the cut for the fall season. 

Basketball is not the ratings winner NFL football is. NOTHING is the ratings winner like NFL football. LOL. Linear networks believe their future lies in live sports. The problem, as NBC is discovering, is that the television fan base for other sports is tiny in comparison to football. (and I say this as someone would would LOVE to see more baseball and hockey from my teams on network TV) NBC bet big that there would be some interest in regular NBA games on network primetime, but that looks to be a gamble they've lost. Ratings have sunk each week by millions of viewers. (I just looked at last week's numbers, and it was down again.) I'm not sure how that contract was written, but I'm willing to bet NBC execs are looking for a way to push that commitment off to Peacock so they can try something else.

Back to Brilliant Minds, if there is anything that will save the show, it's that NBC runs shorter seasons than the other networks. Its regular-season episode orders are now in the 16-18 episode range. (They basically have a fall season and then a completely new slate of shows for the Spring) That means they need twice as many titles as the other networks in order to fill a season. If The Hunting Party does even worse in the spring, Brilliant Minds fans might just see their show squeak another season to try and build some buzz. 

@PrinceofNorth wrote:
Damn it, looks like Brilliant Minds won't be returning for a season 3. All of my shows are doing great.

Brilliant Minds was one of the few shows to survive the NBC slaughter to make room for NBA basketball. Sadly, chances are it won't squeak another season unless there are some drastic changes in the numbers. NBC is saddled with that NBA contract for the next ten years, so there isn't much wiggle room in their schedules to try and move the show around to find an audience. 

@pieslapper wrote:
How long can Grey's Anatomy hold on, until Meredith has grand kids?

LOL! I've wondered the same thing for the last few seasons. Grey's is not a show I've ever watched, but unlike the venerable shows on the other networks (NCIS or Law & Order, for example) Grey's is now the lowest-rated drama on ABC. It was also the lowest-rated drama last season. I fully expected a "final season" renewal for it last season, and since nothing has really changed this season, it would not surprise me at all if the network announced either that the show was ending this year or it gets a final season hurrah renewal for next season.