CBS Renew/Cancel: Changes for 'MacGyver,' 'The Odd Couple'

CBS

Welcome to the second edition of the TV Ratings Guide's CBS Renew/Cancel Watch. All scripted, primetime shows are included in the prediction table below once they have premiered for the season. An analysis of any new prediction changes or observations follows. My current predictions are as of December 12, 2016.

The key to the right indicates which colors are associated with each prediction. The data in the table includes season lows, highs, and averages (Adults 18-49 demo), as well as the year-to-year changes for returning shows that have not already been officially renewed or canceled. These are provided for reasoning with and understanding my predictions. The shows are ordered by their season averages against only other scripted CBS shows.

Rank	Show Title	Season Low / High /Average	Y2Y Change
1	The Big Bang Theory	3.1 / 3.8 / 3.39	-9.2%
2	Kevin Can Wait	1.3 / 2.7 / 1.90	--
3	NCIS	1.7 / 2.2 / 1.87	-15.2%
4	Bull	1.5 / 2.2 / 1.67	--
5	The Great Indoors	1.1 / 1.9 / 1.52	--
6	Criminal Minds	1.3 / 1.9 / 1.51	-15.8%
7	NCIS: LA	1.2 / 1.7 / 1.49	+12.7%
8	2 Broke Girls	1.3 / 1.7 / 1.43	-11.3%
9	Mom	1.2 / 1.5 / 1.37	-19.1%
10	Man with a Plan	1.2 / 1.6 / 1.35	--
11	Life in Pieces	1.0 / 1.5 / 1.30	-35.1%
12	NCIS: New Orleans	1.2 / 1.5 / 1.28	-26.7%
13	Scorpion	1.1 / 1.5 / 1.28	-27.5%
14	Hawaii Five-0	1.2 / 1.4 / 1.25	+9.3%
15	Blue Bloods	1.1 / 1.3 / 1.20	-3.3%
16	MacGyver	0.9 / 1.7 / 1.15	--
17	The Odd Couple	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.03	-27.2%
18	Code Black	0.7 / 1.2 / 0.99	-22.1%
19	Madam Secretary	0.7 / 1.1 / 0.97	-19.0%
20	Pure Genius	0.8 / 1.0 / 0.91	--
21	Elementary	0.6 / 0.8 / 0.70	-27.3%

Prediction Changes:

MacGyver +1

On any other night of the week than Friday, MacGyver's ratings for an 8pm show would be devastatingly low for a freshman series. However, its greatest advantage is that CBS plopped it on a night of relatively modest expectations, where veteran shows like Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods garner a mostly 50+ audience but have enough bite in the A18-49 demo that they remain profitable and regularly top the night across the networks. MacGyver joins them as another CBS drama that draws 7-8 million viewers but averages a 1.15 demo rating through 10 episodes. Considering that it's only dipped below 1.0 once so far, things are looking OK. CBS has a stable night and that's all they could ask for. As such, MacGyver's leaning renewable should its consistency in the ratings continue.

The Odd Couple -1
The Odd Couple has officially been called at 13 episodes for its third season, slowly bringing its episode count to 38 since it began its run in the spring of 2015. That's not a positive sign of hope for this series. Its current season is down 27 percent from the last, which itself was down 36 percent from the first. This was the sitcom's first fall slot, and it shows that the spring was more its pace as it was the lowest-rated sitcom on the network out of eight this time. CBS could keep renewing it to eventually get it to syndication, but here's why they won't: it would need to reach, in all likelihood, season 6 in order to become viable for a decent syndication package. That's not happening if it isn't getting a full third season, which it would need in order to get it there in 5. Barring an unlikely and quite significant uptick in the ratings for its final episodes of the season, I am calling a certain cancellation for The Odd Couple.