Drama Scorecard: September 22-November 2, 2020

 

Fed up with this damn election and want to get back to talking TV?  Take a peek at the scripted dramas filing back into the television season.  The Good Doctor's heralded return marked a 7th entry of returning dramas on the television landscape, catalyzing the time to ranking the Dramas stacked against each other.  CW thankfully schedules year-round programming and gave viewers three entries so they could get past binging reruns, outsourced yet lovely shows and too many Tik Tok videos to count.  Please note this series runs independently from TVRG's Renew/Cancel series in predictions and tones.  Also, licensed repeats such as Swamp Thing and Transplant will not be evaluated with this criteria.  While they are registering ratings second run on the five broadcast networks, their renewals do not mark data set against first-run programming and will be omitted from the data.

The next Scorecard is slated for November 14 after CBS unveils large batches of programming next week, along with other networks debuting new seasons of veteran shows returning.  The Drama Scorecard will be featured regularly Saturday mornings, so stay tuned and keep an eye out for new entries to watch the season go down play by play.

If viewers desire reading about bigger laughs than these embarrassing ratings, take a moment and check out the SITCOM SCORECARD, which has already published two entries and evaluates the existing 10 sitcoms which have registered original episodes.  This sister article is published regularly Friday morning for readers' curiosity.

The entries in this board are best described as lopsided with two shows soaring high(er) while the remains circle in lower territories..  This is Us continues to impress as a megahit, albeit in 2020 standards anything above 1.0 is a megahit.  A sad drop from when TIU regularly pranced above 3.0, but sturdy and giving networks hope people still tune in live to watch their shows.  The Good Doctor returned to a series low, though respectable following a revived Dancing With the Stars.  Renewal odds remain high for the series as ABC scrapes for hits and modest players in its difficult 10:00 timeslots.  After The Good Doctor registers two original episodes, its status will be predicted.

Did anyone cry when Filthy Rich and neXt were axed earlier this week?  Not likely, as FOX used these shows like silly putty to hold their fall schedule together until its stronger players return.  Filthy Rich was slated for a Spring 2020 debut but COVID-19 forced the network to postpone/burn off its debut.  As for neXt?  It couldn't hold a bar even high enough for FOX's troubled Tuesday block which has turned into a graveyard to dispense older or weaker shows.  Since 2018, FOX has developed a reputation for aggressively dispensing scripted shows which do not perform, and the tumultuous 2020 headlines do not leave then shy from booting underperforming shows.

Why bother predicting renewal or cancellation of CW shows?  They follow their own beat to a streaming drum and hold higher renewal rates than other networks.  Supernatural was slated to end its 15 season run in Spring and was halted due to COVID-19.  Unlike FOX, CW seems to value shows receiving fitting endings, and they used the sparsely populated Fall 2020 schedule to accommodate this.  The Outpost is weak but sturdy, which leaves it as Leans Renewal.  Pandora is a notch lower as registering two 0.0 entries is alarming.  It appears the time has come for Nielsen to let a decimal out as ratings grind lower and lower.

Tune in November 14 as a flood of veterans mark their heralded returns.

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