The holidays lopped off much of this week's seasonal entries, NBC is hibernating till January and CW and FOX are burning off less desirable shows til the turn of 2021. However, ABC and CBS are committed to making up lost time for September and much of October. Sunday, November 22 saw honest (non-inflated) ratings for CBS with NCIS: Los Angeles (0.6) and NCIS: New Orleans (0.5), while CW barely existed with Pandora (0.0) and a down Outpost (0.1). Monday, November 23 saw ABC's The Good Doctor (0.6)and FOX's bankrupt Filthy Rich (0.3) steady while CBS maintained with All Rise (0.5) and an uptick with Bull (0.5).
Tuesday, November 23 delivered similar fortunes with NCIS (0.9) and FBI (0.9) steady, while FBI: Most Wanted (0.7) gained a tenth. ABC's freshman pilot Big Sky (0.7) holding impressively steady, while FOX's neXt (0.2) finally lost a tenth. And Wednesday, November 24 saw NBC's Chicago-verse off the radar, leading to mild gains for ABC's For Life (0.5) and SWAT (0.4), both of which regained a tenth.
The shows to keep an eye on in the ratings are not quite the aged veterans, but the younger ones as well as the freshman series. Series like the NCIS and Chicago franchises are vested and at the least likely renewed. FBI has noticeably been matching lead-in NCIS, which the last two seasons always lead by 10%-20%. If NCIS continues downward and FBI holds steady, FBI could be the show which leads the network on Tuesdays. Fret not, as NCIS' spinoffs have colonized Sundays, and the series could land as another megablock that evening. Over on Mondays, All Rise is indeed soft, and Bull is in its 5th season and regularly behind The Good Doctor. Both however are marketable and could schedule nicely on Sundays as well.
ABC's Big Sky impressed in its second outing as it built slightly off of its prior showing, in one of ABC's most troubled timeslots nonetheless. The jury is out for when NBC returns in January but ABC is wisely utilizing light competition to build an audience. It also currently outrates all sitcoms on Wednesday, which shows signs of growth. ABC also appears to be giving the same attention to the soft, returning For Life. Minus competition from Chicago PD, the series ticked up as well. Two seasons ago, ABC's drama pallet was weak at best, and is showing signs of turning the corner. The show to carefully monitor is SWAT on CBS, which is delivering poorly on Wednesdays. It could easily fit the tone for the Friday block if their three crime shows need a break, but a 0.3 during the week is underperforming.
