Below is the table of predictions for Week 14 of CBS Renew/Cancel, followed by an analysis of key shows. First, here are the changes since Week 13:
-Fire Country moves from Certain Renew to Renewed
The renewal of freshman show Fire Country is the first of the season for CBS, whose other already-renewed shows were renewed prior to the start of the season. This is a true testament to its success on Friday nights. The question now is if CBS sees Fire Country as a Friday show for the foreseeable future or if they want to try it out on another night. It will get exposure from airing after the AFC Championship Game on Sunday, January 29, but goes right back to airing on Fridays after that. Its performance on the night so far has been stellar, even out-rating both FBI spinoffs. However, its ratings would be a welcome addition to other nights of the week, like Wednesdays and Thursdays.
There’s also the question of if Fire Country will end up spawning any spinoffs, like FBI, 9-1-1, and The Rookie. The working title for Fire Country, Cal Fire, has a striking resemblance to NBC’s Chicago Fire, which quickly spawned a spinoff in Chicago PD. CBS could also consider adding a medical show to Fire Country’s universe, similar to ABC’s Station 19 and Grey’s Anatomy, and NBC’s Chicago Med and Chicago Fire. It remains to be seen just how valuable Fire Country will be in the future, but it is undeniably off to a strong start and the Season 2 renewal was both expected and deserved.
S.W.A.T.
S.W.A.T. leads off Friday nights quite well, providing a good launchpad for Fire Country. It most recently hit a 0.5 A18-49 Live + Same Day prelim rating, the same week that the already-renewed FBI: Most Wanted did a 0.32. CBS as a whole is very strong in the 8 pm hour, and S.W.A.T. is significantly lower-rated than almost everything else that airs in the 8 pm hour (it slightly edges out Bob Hearts Abishola). However, it certainly holds its own on Fridays, a night where it would be much tougher to find an 8 pm anchor that can consistently put up some of the highest ratings on television.
Even though S.W.A.T. holds its own on Fridays and is the #5 drama out of 13 for CBS, the network still does not appear to be all that supportive of the show. On the CBS app, S.W.A.T. is the second to last show displayed in the ‘Dramas’ section of the home page. It does not appear in the ‘Primetime’ section, but The Real Love Boat does. Most importantly, CBS only holds domestic distribution rights for S.W.A.T. Like Bob Hearts Abishola, this is a show whose fate likely hinges on what CBS has in development. If the dramas airing Tuesdays at 9 and 10 pm were not already-renewed FBI spinoffs but did the same ratings, S.W.A.T. probably would be looking much better right now.