Below are the predictions for Week 5 of CBS Renew/Cancel, followed by an analysis. Underneath that is a poll as well as an interactive schedule, where you can make and share your own predictions. Let us know what your predictions are and what you think in the comments!
Prediction Changes-The Equalizer is downgraded from Tilts Renew to Tilts Cancel
-Elsbeth is upgraded from Tilts Renew to Leans Renew
Key
Week 5 Predictions
The Equalizer and Watson
CBS’s midseason schedule is out, and it’s not kind to The Equalizer. Originally, CBS had scheduled the upcoming drama Watson in the Sundays at 10 pm hour, nicknamed in this column as the Sunday night death slot. For once, it looked like CBS was making an effort to improve the time slot with a series that could potentially have a future ahead of it, other than airing a season or two for syndication purposes or to fill up a spot on the schedule. There’s been a change in plans on the midseason schedule. Watson is now slated for the 9 pm time slot, and The Equalizer will finish off its fifth season in the Sunday night death slot.
Whether or not The Equalizer is in its final season has not yet been disclosed, but its outlook is certainly looking worse with the time slot downgrade. After spending four seasons in the prime Sundays at 8 pm time slot, The Equalizer barely squeaked out a renewal last season, and has since seen two time slot downgrades. At this point, a renewal likely depends on how much NBCUniversal is willing to lower the licensing fee in order to get it to the syndication-friendly 88 episode count. It would get there with one final short season, something that could be achieved by benching the show in the fall and bringing it back to the death slot midseason.
Shows have survived the Sunday night death slot before — but not for long. The most recent case of a show lasting more than two seasons in the time slot before getting canceled was Madam Secretary, which stuck around for reasons beyond its linear demo ratings. Long-running shows like CSI and NCIS: Los Angeles have moved to that time slot to die, as have other shows with sizable runs like NCIS: New Orleans and SEAL Team’s original CBS run. The Equalizer is likely no exception; the only question now is when. After four seasons of nurturing The Equalizer, CBS has been scheduling it like an afterthought this season. It’s also nowhere to be found in their latest multi-platform ratings press release. None of this is a good sign for its future, prompting a downgrade to Tilts Cancel.
The Amazing Race and The Road
As expected, The Amazing Race will return this spring in the Wednesdays at 9:30 pm time slot. While not a ratings powerhouse like Survivor or Big Brother, The Amazing Race should still be a sizable improvement on The Summit. But while The Summit flopping should make The Amazing Race automatically look good in comparison, don’t expect it to go back to producing two cycles a year next season.
That’s because CBS has already ordered a new unscripted series, and announced it to be slated for a fall 2025 premiere. Singing competition The Road hails from Blake Shelton and Taylor Sheridan, where contestants perform as the opening act for an unnamed established musician and compete to remain on the tour. Most likely, it airs on Wednesdays with Survivor as a lead-in. Whether this is the next big unscripted series CBS is looking for remains to be seen, but it’s hard to lose out to The Summit and looks to the future more so than airing two cycles of The Amazing Race would.
Elsbeth
For the third week in a row, Elsbeth gets a prediction change. This time, it’s back in the Leans Renew category. CBS’s latest multi-platform ratings press release reveals Elsbeth is averaging 10.5 million viewers in MP+7 for its season premiere, tied with NCIS for their fifth most-watched series. The linear ratings are still weak, and probably always will be. I’m more confident than ever that a third season of Elsbeth will be produced one way or another, whether it’s for CBS or Paramount+. If CBS can excuse the low linear ratings, it should have no problem securing a renewal. If not, Elsbeth may find itself as a streaming original. For now, I’m leaning the former.
Poll
Interactive Schedule
To make your own predictions, you can use the interactive schedule any time below. Click on the prediction you would like to make, then tap on the show. For example, if you agree with me that Ghosts is a Certain Renewal, tap on the green ‘Certain’, then tap on Ghosts and it will fill in the time slot accordingly. If you would like to share, you can do this by selecting ‘Save Screenshot’ and ‘Download’. Then drag and drop the image to the comments, or save it to your device and upload it to the comments.
| The TV Ratings Guide | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 | 10:00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | The Neighborhood | Poppa’s House | NCIS | NCIS: Origins | |
| Tues | FBI | FBI: International | FBI: Most Wanted | ||
| Wed | Survivor | The Summit | |||
| Thurs | Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage | Ghosts | Matlock | Elsbeth | |
| Fri | S.W.A.T. | Fire Country | Blue Bloods | ||
| Sun | Tracker | The Equalizer | Encores | ||
Renewed
Certain Renew
Likely Renew
Leans Renew
Tilts Renew
Tilts Cancel
Leans Cancel
Likely Cancel
Certain Cancel
Canceled