This week on the NBC Renew/Cancel, we take a look at the two comedies that just wrapped up their seasons. Plus, the NBC Renew/Cancel March Madness tournament continues with the Elite Eight!
Certain Cancellation:
N/A
Leans Cancellation:
N/A
Leans Renewal:
Extended Family (0.28, 0.22-0.71)
Law & Order: Organized Crime (0.37, 0.27-0.46)
Likely Renewal:
Night Court (0.33, 0.28-0.46)
Certain Renewal:
Saturday Night Live (0.72, 0.60-0.96)
Already Canceled/Final Season:
La Brea (0.19, 0.17-0.21)
Magnum PI (0.26, 0.21-0.32)
Already Renewed:
Chicago Fire (0.54, 0.47-0.63)
Chicago Med (0.53, 0.47-0.62)
Chicago PD (0.51, 0.46-0.57)
Found (0.31, 0.25-0.40)
The Irrational (0.27, 0.19-0.34)
Law & Order (0.42, 0.37-0.48)
Law & Order: SVU (0.51, 0.35-0.62)
Coming Soon:
Lopez vs Lopez
Extended Family: There's very little that I can say is impressive about Extended Family's first season performance, but I am, nevertheless, a bit surprised by its stability over the course of the season. In the weeks following its regular time slot debut, the show consistently remained in the 0.22-0.27 range for its entire run. It was mostly unaffected by the increased competition from FBI and Will Trent as they premiered, nor was it impacted during the week that The Floor aired against it. I know I'm damning this show with faint praise by highlighting that it was stable at 0.2s, but stability is still an asset. Previous NBC sitcoms American Auto and Grand Crew had lower averages last season, despite airing when the league average was higher. In American Auto's case, it had a Night Court lead-in that was roughly 60% higher than the one Extended Family got. Lopez vs Lopez's series low is also lower than Extended Family's, while tying its season average for season one. So, in comparison to some NBC sitcoms from the recent past, Extended Family looks somewhat-acceptable, and that's really all it takes for me to bet on a renewal for a sitcom on a network that's not canceled a freshman sitcom since Connecting back in 2020 (a show that averaged a 0.31 in a season where the league average was a 0.65 and it had a 2.2 lead-in for one of four episodes that it aired). Extended Family has very little to brag about, but I don't think it will be the show to end NBC's trend of giving second chances to underperforming freshman sitcoms. Its low ratings overall limit it to only LEANS RENEWAL, but I'd go so far as to say it's on the cusp of likely renewal status. And that says far more about NBC than it says about Extended Family.
Night Court: Also wrapping up for the season this week was Night Court. Like many "revivals" (which I hesitate to use for this show, which say just one original star return as a series regular), it started strong, drawing the highest rating of any scripted show last season without the help of sports. And, like many revivals, that audience didn't stick around long. Nevertheless, the show isn't doing that badly, averaging roughly the same as its competition on ABC, Will Trent, and only rating about a half-tenth worse than the Tuesday airings of The Voice, a far more expensive show, later in the night. Considering the state of NBC comedy, and NBC's apparent support for this show (it was on their original fall schedule before the strike pushed it to midseason), these ratings should be enough for a third season. Things look murkier beyond that point, since no new NBC comedy has made it past a third season since The Good Place's renewal in 2019, but it shouldn't have trouble getting to season three nevertheless. It's a LIKELY RENEWAL
NBC Renew/Cancel March Madness continues!
Last week, we kicked off our first annual NBC Renew/Cancel March Madness, and voting has continued for the last week. Found and Night Court were locked in a week-long nailbiter race, with both polling ahead at various points. Ultimately, it was Found that pulled off the win, and it will face off against #1 seed SNL this week. In two matches that weren't close at all, Dick Wolf police procedurals Law & Order: SVU and Chicago PD easily triumphed over their opponents, Extended Family and Quantum Leap, respectively. Both shows received over 80% of the vote and will face off against one another this week. In a huge upset, #2 seed Chicago Fire was defeated by NBC's lowest-rated show, La Brea, in a race that saw late momentum swing heavily in La Brea's favor. Law & Order: Organized Crime easily defeated freshman drama The Irrational and will face off against La Brea this week. In another upset, a different Chicago show, Chicago Med, was defeated by #14 seed Magnum PI in a race that wasn't particularly close. It will face Law & Order, which easily dispatched Lopez vs Lopez, which has been eliminated before its second season even premiered. This keeps the entire Law & Order franchise alive heading into the second round. You can vote in this week's polls below to help pick which shows will move on to the Final Four. You can also vote in the ABC March Madness here, the Fox March Madness here, and the CBS March Madness here.
What do think of my predictions? What are your predictions? Let me know in the comments!
