The holidays left a lighter plate for scripted programming without the Thursday five on display, but there was plenty of shifts from ABC and FOX's main courses. Football Inflation again grove the FOX lineup to new heights on Sunday, November 22 with The Simpsons (1.5), Bless the Harts (0.7), Bob's Burgers (0.7) and Family Guy (0.6) enjoying a hearty bump. Monday, November 23 saw The Neighborhood (0.8) steady while Bob Hearts Abishola (0.6) slid down a tenth. ABC made the fateful decision to take on the holidays on Wednesday, November 24 seeing lower results with The Goldbergs (0.6) registering a series low while American Housewife (0.5), The Conners (0.6) and Blackish (0.4) tying their existing lows.
The trend for the sitcoms has consistently remained with FOX pushing their way into 1st place in the fall with The Simpsons in 1st place. The numbers often deflate after Superbowl with FOX sliding into 3rd place with ABC or CBS resuming the lead. However, these were seasons which the network featured heavy-hitters like the former The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family, and current sitcoms The Goldbergs, Young Sheldon and The Conners all registering above average to mammoth numbers. Given those three survivors have endured massive losses this season, FOX may easily stay in 1st place deeper into the spring season.
The alarming observation for ABC was this latest evening did not experience drops in unison across the board. In fact, their weakest drama, For Life, experienced an uptick without heavy competition from Chicago PD, and CBS' SWAT also recovered some lost ground. This demonstrates not a difficult evening, but a loss of interest in their surviving sitcoms. The Conners lost massive ground, The Goldbergs is deflating and American Housewife and Blackish are back to their prior lows from last season despite a lucrative move to Wednesday night. Spring could see further drops as they always rate lower than fall. 2020-21 could be the season with sitcoms falling out of favor with viewers on broadcast network television.
