CBS Renew/Cancel Week 9: Amazing News for The Amazing Race

The Ratings Junkie

Below is the table for Week 9 of CBS Renew/Cancel, followed by an analysis. Let us know what you think by voting in the poll and leaving a comment!

Survivor and The Amazing Race

Survivor is a highlight not just on CBS’s schedule, but on all of television this fall. The 90-minute episodes have not hurt its ratings, and CBS has opted to do another 90-minute-episodes season in the spring. The Amazing Race may not have great retention, but the awkward start time doesn’t help any unique fans find the series. Given the upcoming season of The Amazing Race will also be 90 minutes despite having originally been intended as 60-minute episodes, it’s safe to say CBS is pleased with this three-hour block of long-running competition reality series.

Let’s Make A Deal Primetime and Raid The Cage
I caught some flack for calling Raid The Cage’s ratings ‘abysmal’ last week. This week, though, the ratings truly were abysmal. At a 0.17 Adults 18-49 Live + Same Day prelim, Raid The Cage is proven to be dependent on its already low-rated lead-in. CBS will be trying out Let’s Make A Deal Primetime on Monday this week and Raid The Cage on Tuesday. Both shows need to prove their worth in these special airings or face downgrades. Despite how cost-effective Let’s Make A Deal Primetime must be to produce, there has to be a certain floor. Leading the night off with a 0.19 rating and being down 59% from the previous season would spell automatic doom for nearly any other show.

NCIS: Sydney
NCIS: Sydney premiered to a 0.34 A18-49 L+SD rating. That’s as good as or better than any rating that NCIS: Hawai’i received since early February. It’s right in line with the 0.35 seasonal averages for NCIS: Hawai’i and NCIS: Los Angeles last season. Despite originally being intended as an international series, NCIS: Sydney had a solid sampling and may end up fitting in nicely with the NCIS franchise. It’s too early to say for sure, but if Australia’s Network 10 wants a second season of NCIS: Sydney, so may CBS.

Ghosts UK

Ghosts UK didn’t premiere quite as well as NCIS: Sydney in the key demo, but did manage to grow from the rerun of Ghosts that aired before it. A 0.23 rating was enough for Ghosts UK to tie for second place in the 9 pm time slot. Given how terrible SEAL Team did after it, Ghosts UK’s premiere looks serviceable for CBS’s strike schedule.