CBS Renew/Cancel Week 29: Reruns of FBI Prioritized Over True Lies

 

Welcome to Week 29 of CBS Renew/Cancel. CBS still has three scripted shows that they are yet to renew or cancel: East New York, S.W.A.T., and True Lies. Below is a table with their predictions followed by an analysis. Let us know what you think by voting in the poll and leaving a comment!


S.W.A.T.

S.W.A.T. proved once again this week that it deserves to be renewed, from the standpoint of Live + Same Day Adults 18-49 ratings. Leading off Friday nights with a 0.35 prelim, it very nearly tied FBI: International’s 0.36 rating earlier in the week, which airs in a much more favorable time slot. It also matched Fire Country’s 0.35 prelim at 9 pm, and far cleared Blue Bloods’ 0.27 at 10 pm. FBI: International, Fire Country, and Blue Bloods are all renewed for another season. While S.W.A.T. was lucky to even get to Season 6 in the first place, its ratings are at the point where it now deserves a Season 7. 

However, Sony has the international distribution rights to S.W.A.T., complicating renewal negotiations in an era where it is becoming increasingly valuable to the networks to own their shows. It doesn’t appear to be a particularly strong performer on Paramount+ domestically, oftentimes toward the bottom of the pack in the Trending Shows section for CBS shows. The exception to this is if a new episode has recently aired, and even then it lags behind the other Friday dramas. Add all this to the fact that cast contracts need to be renegotiated going into a seventh season, and S.W.A.T.’s outlook continues to look slightly more negative than positive. Because of this, it remains in the Tilts Cancel category. 

East New York
As a show that is neither owned by CBS nor part of a franchise or based on an existing title, East New York is in a position few CBS shows find themselves to be in. It inherently doesn’t have the same syndication potential that most other CBS shows have, and even then, that money would be made by Warner Brothers. It arguably needs to over perform in order to find a spot on CBS’s schedule next season, and it simply is not doing that at the moment. It most recently hit a 0.28 Live + Same Day Adults 18-49 rating, barely out-rating lead-out NCIS: Los Angeles, and being outdone in A18-49 Share as well as A25-54. It also appears to be a rather weak performer on Paramount+. 

East New York is really no weaker than fellow new series So Help Me Todd or the latest iterations in the CSI and NCIS franchises, and if CBS wants to find a spot for it on the schedule next season, they can make room. There’s still a chance for East New York to return, but CBS is not showing any favoritism to the show by leaving it out of the early renewals. 

True Lies
CBS isn’t even trying to make True Lies work, airing it at 10 pm after reruns of FBI instead of at 9 pm after Survivor. On Wednesday, its 0.27 A18-49 Live + Same Day rating was a drop from the FBI rerun’s 0.35. It also dropped from the rerun of FBI in A18-49 Share and A25-54. Perhaps Disney will try to cut CBS a good deal to get a Season 2, but they’d probably rather wait for CBS to cancel it and pick it up themselves, given the way CBS is treating the show. That’s not to say I think there’s interest in True Lies Season 2 at ABC, but it would probably be nurtured there far better than it is on CBS. CBS looks like they are ready to get rid of True Lies, and the only thing stopping it from being a Certain Cancel is the uncertainty surrounding a potential writer’s strike.  

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