ABC Reality Renew/Cancel Part 4: Is Celebrity Jeopardy! in Jeopardy?

It's likely the final ABC Reality Renew/Cancel of the year, as I take a look at an underperforming veteran and two of ABC's top series this year, which have both seen major changes. Plus, a prediction change for a long-running veteran, and two other shows enter the chart for the first time, on this packed edition of the ABC Reality Renew/Cancel!

Certain Cancellation:
N/A

Likely Cancellation:
N/A

Leans Cancellation:
Bad Romance (0.14, 0.12-0.15)
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (0.26, 0.21-0.35)

Leans Renewal:
Celebrity Jeopardy! (0.26, 0.19-0.41)
The Golden Bachelorette (0.31, 0.26-0.38)
What Would You Do? (0.17, 0.11-0.26)

Likely Renewal:

The $100,000 Pyramid (0.23, 0.19-0.29)

Certain Renewal:

20/20 (0.21, 0.14-0.28)

American Idol (0.45, 0.39-0.54)

America's Funniest Home Videos (0.33, 0.23-0.51)

The Bachelor (0.43, 0.34-0.59)

Dancing with the Stars (0.75, 0.56-1.14)

Shark Tank (0.27, 0.18-0.42)

Already Canceled/Ending:

Scamanda (miniseries)

Already Renewed:

The Great Christmas Light Fight

Coming Soon:

Celebrity Wheel of Fortune

Celebrity Jeopardy!: It's been a rough season for Celebrity Jeopardy. Typically a fall affair, the game show was held for midseason this year, and also shifted from 8 PM to 9 PM. It's likely the latter that has caused the show to sink a concerning 41% this season, with one episode left in its season. With a 0.26 average, it now finds itself as one of ABC's lowest-rated shows, after being one of their highest-rated last season. Just five shows rate below it, when only five rated above it last season, which is quite the unfortunate coincidence. 8 PM was a perfect slot for it, with many of the most populous media markets airing the syndicated Jeopardy! series at 7 PM on ABC stations, mostly leading into fellow legacy game show Wheel of Fortune. While Abbott Elementary is a strong show, it's surely much less compatible with Celebrity Jeopardy! than this game show hour, hence the massive ratings decline for Celebrity Jeopardy. We saw clear proof of this in season one, when Celebrity Jeopardy did NOT air with the local lead-in, despite an 8 PM slot, for the first half of the season, due to airing on Sunday nights. Though it still performed solidly, it saw a massive rise upon moving to 8 PM on Thursdays. I can't only blame the local lead-in. Obviously, a show that can only do well airing with a strong local lead-in isn't all that strong on its own, a time slot hit. However, I do think the damage done to Celebrity Jeopardy this season is somewhat-reversible. Ratings will continue to get lower overall, but moving the show back to back to 8 would probably strengthen it. However, 8 PM slots aren't all that easy to come by, at least in-season, so the "solution" to Celebrity Jeopardy's ratings problem is much easier said than done. A summer run could do the show some good, seeing as 8 PM is much more open during that season, or ABC could continue to air it at 9 and accept the mediocre ratings, as it's not a complete ratings disaster. After all, it did perform better at 9 PM last week than Thursday drama Doctor Odyssey (though that's damning it with faint praise), and The Rookie hasn't often been all that much stronger than it at 9 (though it was last week, after a surprise 40% week-to-week rise). I'd be mildly surprised if Celebrity Jeopardy! wasn't on ABC's schedule in some form next season, either in-season or in the summer (which is where Celebrity Wheel of Fortune will mostly air this go-around), but it is possible that they'll look for other, even cheaper filler that won't rate all that differently than the more expensive Celebrity Jeopardy. ABC isn't afraid to cancel their game shows, particularly in recent years, with game show revivals like Match Game or Card Sharks being canceled and several other freshman game shows lasting only one season despite ratings that wasn't too awful for filler programming. There is also the possibility that they can put it on the shelf for a while, as they did with Millionaire when that show underperformed. ABC has a big decision to make about Celebrity Jeopardy! in the near future, but I'd currently bet on its renewal, even though it's been a very disappointing performer this season, having typically put ABC in fourth in the hour, unable to compete with Fox game show The Floor and strong offerings on CBS and NBC. It LEANS RENEWAL.

American Idol: One show that's looking quite strong is American Idol. Entirely by ABC's own choice, Sundays in the fall are a barren wasteland, filled with network broadcasts of Disney movies and the occasional repeats of ABC series. American Idol then returns in the winter, like a phoenix from the ashes, bringing ABC to life once again on Sunday nights. The exit of judge Katy Perry last season has not massively impacted the show in the ratings, with the show declining just 12% on Sundays and holding almost entirely steady on Mondays from last season. With her replacement, Carrie Underwood, being paid roughly half of Perry's massive salary, the change at the judges' panel looks to be a win from a cost point of view, with ratings holding strong as the cast budget drops a bit. Idol is often the strongest program on ABC in a given week, and is the highlight of their spring lineup. While it was still worth airing even when the costs were higher, this more cost-effective version of Idol is even more of a winner for ABC. It enters as a CERTAIN RENEWAL.

The Bachelor: It's been an odd few years for the Bachelor franchise, with this year perhaps being the oddest of all. Earlier this year, ABC announced that, for the first time in almost two decades, there won't be a Bachelorette series this year. Even during COVID, The Bachelorette continued, simply airing later that year (and then airing TWO seasons the next year). The ensuing days were filled with tumult, with longtime Bachelor Nation crew members exiting and being laid off, and allegations that the franchise was a toxic workplace. Bachelor in Paradise, put on ice last year following underwhelming ratings the previous fall, will indeed return this year, airing in place of the Bachelorette in summer, so the Bachelor franchise is certainly living on, but there are fractures. The standard-bearer of the franchise, The Bachelor, was down 27% this season, to a 0.44 average. That's enough to make it ABC's #3 show, behind only Dancing with the Stars and American Idol. While the franchise clearly has issues to work out, including figuring out what to do with the Golden offshoots and how to move forward with the weaker Bachelorette franchise, The Bachelor, though down, will absolutely be back next season. It's still a CERTAIN RENEWAL, in spite of the many issues clearly present with the Bachelor franchise.

Interactive Schedule:

The TV Ratings Guide	8:00	8:30	9:00	10:00
Mon	American Idol			Paradise
Tues	Will Trent		The Rookie	Bad Romance
Wed	The Conners	Abbott Elementary	Celebrity Jeopardy!	What Would You Do?
Thurs	9-1-1		Doctor Odyssey	Grey's Anatomy
Fri	Shark Tank		20/20
Sun	American Idol			The $100,000 Pyramid