Sitcom Scorecard: April 19-23, 2020

There are no changes in renewal odds to discuss this week.  Just disappointments.  Will & Grace bowed out with an appalling 0.5 rating after considerable press overage.  While it maintained for the season, this is a far cry from the monumental 8.4 rating it achieved for its first finale in 2006 (to check out the seasonal ratings for Will & Grace's first run as well as other shows, click on the RATINGS HISTORY database and have a fun read!).  Other disappointments to shamefully mention include Last Man Standing belting out another low 0.6 rating and American Housewife delivering the same in Modern Family's old stomping grounds.

With so few shows left with shorter seasons, coverage and discussion is getting scarce.  However, some factors have already been determined, including The Conners, Young Sheldon and Modern Family will finish the season in 1st, 2nd and 3rd places respectively.  Hit show The Simpsons is already showing its true weight in springtime and this week and slid down from its inflated 2nd place.  One more 0.6 rating, and it's going to 4th.  CBS' springtime entries Broke and Man With a Plan tried out another week without veteran support and ticked down to 0.6.  The odds are promising for Broke, while Man With a Plan faces a similar curse as Life in Pieces which CBS axed at 79 episodes in its 4th year.  If Man With a Plan finishes 13 episodes this season, it stands at 69 episodes.  MWAP was used in prior seasons to plug the holes on Mondays, but Bobishola's impressive results leave it to crowded Thursdays.  That leaves it competing with fresher Broke, Carol's Second Act and The Unicorn.

Returning veterans are also tougher to determine in the current television world.  Last Man Standing delivered a triumphant 7th season after being revived on FOX last year, and is struggling on Thursdays as an afterthought.  Could this be the last season?  And American Housewife's Wednesday move(s) are proving disappointing.  But what other options does ABC have?  And would they part with outsourced The Goldbergs?  A network cancelling its 2nd highest sitcom remaining would have been unheard of three years ago, but could become a reality in 2020.


Recently, TVRG has been delivering a new series of articles titled Every Episode, Every Rating.  This series has every episode's demo ratings filed into a table with analysis.  More are slated to come throughout 2020, so stay tuned.  Current entries on the sitcoms mentioned in this table:


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