CBS Renew/Cancel Week 11: East New York Still Has Much Left To Prove

 

Below is the table for Week 11 of CBS Renew/Cancel, followed by an analysis for key shows. CBS was light on the scripted offerings this week, only airing new episodes of their Sunday and Friday dramas. There are no changes this week in the predictions or in the rankings. 

Blue Bloods
Besides looking at the ratings, one way to look at how a network feels about a show’s performance is how often they brag about it in press releases where they could have easily ignored the show. Blue Bloods has excelled in this regard lately. On November 22, it was highlighted among 60 Minutes, FBI, NCIS, and Ghosts on the second line of a press release about Live + 35 viewership figures (its premiere had 10.765 million viewers in L+35, higher than all other broadcast shows except 60 Minutes). On December 1, it was mentioned in a press release as one of three of the top six shows on television in minutes watched, with its 4.2 billion minutes only behind NCIS’s 4.9 billion and FBI’s 5.0 billion for CBS. Also on December 1, CBS put out a press release announcing the promotion of Eric Kim to Executive Vice President, Current Programs, where they mention he had a hand in developing series “such as Blue Bloods, FBI: Most Wanted, FBI: International, CSI and many more.” Despite the reputation it has received over the years, CBS seems to be talking all about Blue Bloods lately, which can only be a good sign. On the ratings front, its December 2 airing hit a preliminary 0.3 A18-49 rating, below the 0.4s done earlier in the night by S.W.A.T. and Fire Country. If Blue Bloods was 10 years younger, I would have it as Likely Renew, but its age and the inevitable expenses that come with it keep it in the Leans Renew category. 

East New York and NCIS: LA
CBS has been rather lenient on renewals of their fall freshmen series as long as Kelly Kahl was in charge, but it remains to be seen if that will stay the same now that CBS has promoted new executives. East New York is not a particularly strong show, getting a 0.38 A18-49 rating out of The Equalizer’s 0.48 this week, and leading into NCIS: LA’s 0.36 at 10 pm. One thing worth noting is that even though East New York is comfortably out-rating NCIS: LA in the A18-49 demo this season so far (0.43 to 0.38), it is being edged out on average with shares. East New York is averaging a 3.6 W18-49 share and a 2.8 M18-49 share this season, which is a tad below NCIS: LA’s 3.8 W18-49 average share and 2.9 M18-49 average share. This week, though East New York won the ratings war 0.38 to 0.36, NCIS: LA had a higher W18-49 share (3.4 vs 3.2) and a higher M18-49 share (2.5 vs 2.2). Essentially, this means NCIS: LA is doing a slightly better job at competing with its time slot competition among viewers aged 18-49 than East New York is. NCIS: LA looks to be a stronger show than East New York, but the Sunday at 10 pm time slot says all we need to know about how much CBS really cares for NCIS: LA right now. If they are looking to cut down on the NCIS franchise, it still appears most likely they would start with this installment. As mentioned in previous columns, East New York still needs to prove itself in the spring when the NFL season is over. 

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