It's only mid-July, but we've already seen the last of our scheduled summer TV debuts, with four new entries last week from ABC and CBS. Keep reading to see where Judge Steve Harvey, freshman game show Lucky 13 and returning favorites Big Brother and Press Your Luck will land in their initial predictions.
Certain to be Canceled:
N/A
Likely to be Canceled:
Judge Steve Harvey (0.17, 0.11-0.26)
Lingo (0.19, 0.16-0.21)
The Real CSI: Miami (0.18, 0.14-0.23)
Leans Cancellation:
Gordon Ramsay's Food Stars (0.17, 0.14-0.19)
I Can See Your Voice (0.21, 0.17-0.31)
Leans Renewal:
Beat Shazam (0.23, 0.19-0.27)
Claim to Fame (0.28, 0.26-0.30)
Don't Forget The Lyrics! (0.23, 0.18-0.26)
Lucky 13 (0.29)
The Wall (0.19)
Likely to be Renewed:
The 1% Club (0.23, 0.21-0.25)
Password (0.26, 0.22-0.29)
Press Your Luck (0.33)
The Quiz with Balls (0.25, 0.22-0.29)
Weakest Link (0.24, 0.17-0.30)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (0.41, 0.38-0.44)
Certain to be Renewed:
America's Got Talent (0.46, 0.38-0.51)
American Ninja Warrior (0.32, 0.30-0.36)
The Bachelorette (0.41, 0.37-0.45)
Big Brother (0.53, 0.51-0.56)
Celebrity Family Feud (0.37, 0.34-0.41)
MasterChef (Renewed)
Coming Soon:
Secret Celebrity Renovation
Big Brother: Long one of summer's strongest shows, Big Brother returned last week and again cemented that position, premiering to the highest rating we've seen from a regularly-scheduled program this summer (0.56) and continuing to outpace the rest of the pack on Thursday with a 0.51 in the demo. This puts it seven hundredths above America's Got Talent to lead the summer ratings pack this year, its fifth season in a row out-rating it, and its second season as the #1 summer show. Its premiere rating was roughly 25% below the 0.72 it debuted to last summer, but it's also notably higher than all but four in-season premieres on CBS this season, with only Survivor, Ghosts, Young Sheldon and FBI debuting higher. While CBS surely wishes it was still matching the ratings from its glory days, rating at roughly 140% of the league average is still great for a summer show. Big Brother will remain a fixture of summer TV for years to come. It's a CERTAIN RENEWAL.
Lucky 13: ABC didn't exactly get all that lucky with the debut of their newest game show, with Lucky 13 debuting to a 0.29 in the key demo. That's a fine rating, but it doesn't give it all that much room to fall. For now, the show looks like a renewal, but previous freshman ABC game shows such as The Last Straw, Don't, and Funderdome also started on OK footing before dropping enough to ultimately get the axe. Even expanding past game shows, last season's The Parent Test and The Prank Panel both started out on decent-enough ground before eventually slipping to levels that apparently got them canceled. I'll give Lucky 13 the benefit from the doubt to start - it did retain Press Your Luck pretty well, and is rating similarly to the other 9 PM shows on ABC - but chances are that it'll drop enough in the coming weeks to put it in danger. It LEANS RENEWAL for now but will have to hold mostly steady to keep itself in contention.
Judge Steve Harvey: The most likely cancelation of this slimmed-down ABC summer lineup is Judge Steve Harvey, which originally aired on Wednesdays at 10 earlier this year before being pulled from the schedule six episodes in, having gone as low as a truly pitiful 0.11. It returned this week, in a much better slot, behind fellow Steve Harvey-hosted unscripted series Celebrity Family Feud. Feud provided a strong 0.41 lead-in for Judge Steve, and Judge Steve didn't capitalize on it, holding 63% of that lead-in with a 0.26 in the key demo. That was the lowest rating for an original show on ABC last week, despite having the highest lead-in. While this is obviously better than it was doing at ten, this performance shouldn't inspire much confidence in the series, which flamed out fast after a strong premiere a few years ago. Its summer run last year wasn't much stronger than this, with a 0.28 rating. However, this year's episodes appear to have been filmed in the same production cycle as all of those that aired last summer. The show was pulled off of ABC's fall schedule in August despite initial plans to air in on Wednesdays in the fall, so I doubt ABC was all that happy with last year's performance, either. This show has recently been treated like schedule filler, and it only has itself to blame. It's now a LIKELY CANCELLATION.
What do you think of my predictions? What are your predictions? Let me know in the comments and vote in the poll of the week!
