This week on the NBC Renew/Cancel, a reliable veteran takes the spotlight amid a season of underwhelming ratings, while a sophomore series wraps its season after a disastrous ratings run. Plus, the Final Four shows in the NBC Renew/Cancel March Madness are revealed, and voting begins to determine the two shows headed to next week's championship game!
Certain Cancellation:
Brilliant Minds (0.23, 0.17-0.29)
Grosse Pointe Garden Society (0.12, 0.09-0.17)
The Irrational (0.17, 0.10-0.31)
Leans Cancellation:
N/A
Leans Renewal:
Found (0.22, 0.18-0.29)
Likely Renewal:
Law & Order (0.30, 0.25-0.36)
Certain Renewal:
Chicago Fire (0.40, 0.31-0.48)
Chicago Med (0.41, 0.33-0.48)
Chicago PD (0.36, 0.30-0.48)
Law & Order: SVU (0.35, 0.27-0.49)
Saturday Night Live (0.84, 0.55-2.17)
Renewed:
Happy's Place
St. Denis Medical
Law & Order: SVU: It's been a bit of a tough season of SVU this time around, dropping more than any of Dick Wolf's other dramas, down 25% year-to-year so far. Last week was an especially rough showing for it, hitting a new series low of 0.27 against the opening night of March Madness on CBS. While that was still enough to beat Doctor Odyssey and rate as the #1 non-sports series in the hour, the margin was surprisingly tight, beating it by less than half a point. It was just the second time that SVU went below the 0.30 mark in its run, the first being on Halloween. Despite some ugly lows, SVU is still one of NBC's best-performing shows, rating as their #5 primetime series this season, down one spot from last season, when it narrowly rated ahead of Chicago PD. It's also important to note that, while it is indeed down 25% for the season overall, those notably poor showings are clear aberrations. On a normal night, SVU is usually reliably a league average performer, and half of its ratings this season have been rounded 0.4s or higher, so a few off weeks aren't a cause for all that much concern. SVU is also of great value to NBC for reasons beyond its linear ratings. Not only is SVU one of the most lucrative syndication players, it's also easily the most popular NBC series on Peacock, often ranking as the #1 series on the service at any given time. So even during somewhat of a ratings slump, the show is very profitable for NBC, and its place on their schedule isn't in doubt. Adding in that it's the longest-running primetime live action scripted series ever, there's just no way that it'll be canceled this late in the game without advanced notice. I'm not sure how much longer it'll run, but my guess is that barring a major collapse (one far worse than the drops we've seen this season), NBC is completely fine with keeping it going until Dick Wolf or star Mariska Hargitay decided it's time to hang it up. It's a CERTAIN RENEWAL.
The Irrational: This week, The Irrational ended its second season. To its credit, it did get a finale bump, hitting its highest rating since early January. Unfortunately for it, that rating happened to be a 0.17. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that that's still terrible. 0.17 also ends up being its season average for season two, a 36% decline from season two, when it wasn't exactly the smartest renewal decision to begin with. This season of The Irrational was such a ratings disaster that it didn't even manage to improve on the ratings Quantum Leap got in the slot last year. That show was an obvious two-and-done, and The Irrational is in the same boat this year. Grosse Pointe Garden Society has an even worse average, but The Irrational is still NBC's second-lowest-rated show. With Tuesday nights being taken over by NBA games next year, there isn't much room for these flop shows to hide, and NBC's replacement for The Irrational is already obvious. The Irrational hasn't done anything to change my mind on my CERTAIN CANCELLATION prediction since it hit that woeful 0.10 back in January, and it's now all out of chances to do so. Its finale this week was undoubtedly its series finale.
NBC Renew/Cancel March Madness Continues!
Last week was a major week for the NBC Renew/Cancel March Madness, with four more matches pitting the eight shows that advanced from the first round against one another. Voter turnout was way up, and there were major upsets once again. NBC's highest-rated show, Saturday Night Live, had easy completion in the first round, but this week, it was locked into an extremely tight race against the low-rated freshman drama The Hunting Party. In the end, The Hunting Party came out on top, pulling off its second narrow victory. Law & Order: SVU, which had the most votes of any show in the first round, faced fellow Dick Wolf series Chicago PD. It was the narrowest win SVU has ever had in an NBC Marc Madness poll, but in the end, it still took 58% of the vote and moves on. The closest poll of this round saw Law & Order competing against The Irrational. The Irrational was the second-lowest seed at the start of this tournament, and managed a surprise upset in the first round against Chicago Med. The lead changed a few times over the course of the week, but in the end, it was The Irrational that came out ahead, by just about a point. The #15 seed advances to the final four. The final representative of NBC sitcoms, St. Denis Medical, had major competition from Chicago Fire in the second round. It got absolutely blown out, with Chicago Fire taking over 80% of the vote, its second straight landslide win. You can vote in the polls for the Final Four below, and can also vote in polls for ABC, CBS and Fox.
| The TV Ratings Guide | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 | 10:00 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | The Voice | The Hunting Party | ||||
| Tues | St. Denis Medical | Night Court | Deal or No Deal Island | The Irrational | ||
| Wed | Chicago Med | Chicago Fire | Chicago PD | |||
| Thurs | Law & Order | Law & Order: SVU | Found | |||
| Fri | Happy's Place | Lopez vs Lopez | Dateline NBC | |||
| Sun | The Americas | Suits LA | Grosse Pointe Garden Society | |||
