The "Every Episode, Every Rating" series takes a look at the highs and lows of a program during its full run on broadcast television. Praise or criticism is in reference to the show's performance in the Nielsen ratings.
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| Photo Credit: NBC |
During the mid-2000s and early 2010s, NBC seemingly mastered the art of the workplace sitcom. Programs like The Office, Parks & Recreation, and 30 Rock ran for multiple seasons and became staples of Internet culture due to their quotable lines and casts full of chemistry. The only issue is that, outside of The Office, these single-camera comedies struggled to deliver in the Nielsen ratings. Great News emerged in the back-half of the 2010s as a Tina Fey production that centered on a local news crew in New York City. The formula and branding was a shoe-in for the peacock network's environment, but that was not enough to keep News on the air.
Spring 2017: Great News was an extremely late addition to the 2016-17 television season, coming in during the last month of the regular season. As a result, the network utilized the double-pump strategy by airing back-to-back episodes in the 9 p.m. hour. Buoyed by a lead-in from The Voice (1.8), Great News came onto the scene with a 1.2 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic for its pilot episode. It was down to a 1.0 by 9:30, but this was still a fine start for a series debuting in deep spring. The real trouble began in week two when News slipped to a 0.8 for its second stint in the 9 p.m. slot and then dropped to a disastrous 0.6 for the episode airing right after. It finally seemed to stabilized in week three (0.81/0.65) but went as low as a 0.58 rating on May 16. Great News showed a bit of life again on finale night for a special 8 p.m. broadcast (0.72/0.76), but these numbers were still a far cry from the decent-sized premiere.
Fall 2017: Great News received a game-changing upgrade during fall 2017 when its second season was placed right after the reboot of Will & Grace. News was given the 9:30 p.m. time slot, serving as the fourth addition to a comedy block that also included solid players like Superstore and The Good Place. This was quite possibly the best position NBC could have placed the series in, and this became clear on premiere night when News debuted with a new series high in both the Adults 18-49 demographic (1.33) and in total viewers (5.15 million). The only problem was that the series fell by nearly 60% from the massive 3.0 rating that Will & Grace posted a half hour prior. Things would only get worse from there as Grace lost a full point in week two, sliding to a still strong 2.0. Great News managed to cling to a 1.0 on two more occasions, even as Grace fell into the 1.7-1.8 range, but any chance at renewal seemingly fell out the window when it dropped to an abysmal 0.7 rating on November 2nd.
Winter 2017/2018: By the time winter rolled around, it was clear NBC had finally given up on Great News. The series was tossed into the 8 p.m. hour for a double-pump on December 21st, a time in the season when most shows are on break and networks air holiday specials. Naturally, it completely bombed here, going as low as a 0.42 for the 8:30 p.m. installment. It dropped even harder on the 28th (0.35) for an episode placed in an island of reruns, this one serving as the lowest-rated of its run. The series returned in January 2018 to air four more episodes in its regular time slot, but it could only manage to stay in the 0.5-0.6 range. Though Will & Grace had also taken quite a nosedive into the 1.1-1.4 range, the gap between the two was far too pronounced. News aired its final episode on January 25, 2018 and was canceled after two seasons.
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| Photo Credit: NBC |
Post-Mortem: It's hard to fault NBC for trying to give Great News a second chance. The program was a complete afterthought on their spring 2017 schedule and definitely deserved another go, especially given the star power behind the scenes. But, while sitcoms like The Goldbergs and Brooklyn Nine-Nine benefited greatly from a sophomore season upgrade, Great News simply did not. Wherever the series was placed, it felt like viewers were actively avoiding it. There really was no better time slot for NBC to schedule the series, and it was the show's last shot to prove its worth to the network. While it did underwhelm, the sitcom definitely lasted longer than it could have. NBC could have easily dumped its second season in the summer months (like what they did to post-Voice sitcom Trial & Error), but they gave it the best spot in the house. In the end, audiences just weren't tuning in enough to keep this one around.
What did you think of this article? Were you a fan of Great News? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
