ABC has renewed five of their veteran reality series for next season. American Idol, America's Funniest Home Videos, Celebrity Jeopardy!, Celebrity Wheel of Fortune and Shark Tank will all be back next season on ABC. American Idol is among the top series on TV, with a strong 0.51 average as it welcomed new judge (and former winner) Carrie Underwood to the panel, replacing Katy Perry. That's down just 2% from last season. America's Funniest Home Videos has also had an incredible spring, with several ratings at or above the 0.5 mark in this part of the season, and a 0.36 average for the season overall. Shark Tank remains a reliable Friday night player, averaging 0.27 in the key demo. One of the titular sharks, Mark Cuban, has already been announced to be exiting the series after the current series. Celebrity game shows Celebrity Jeopardy! and Celebrity Wheel of Fortune have both had more modest showings this season, after solid starts. Celebrity Jeopardy! averaged 0.26 on Wednesday nights, down a staggering 42%. Celebrity Wheel of Fortune has aired just three episodes thus far, but averages 0.30 so far after a precipitous drop this week, though that is a smaller year-to-year drop than Celebrity Jeopardy! saw this season. The series will also lose a longtime star, as iconic host Pat Sajak exits the series, a year after he left the long-running syndicated civilian version. All but Celebrity Wheel of Fortune are correct predictions for The TV Ratings Guide, that show having been renewed before a prediction was established for the show.
Notably absent from this announcement is The Bachelor, following tumult in the franchise that put The Bachelorette on pause for the summer. Despite that series being iced for now and The Bachelor still awaiting renewal news, The Golden Bachelor is expected for a fall launch, while Bachelor in Paradise is set for a summer debut, in place of The Bachelorette. Hidden camera series What Would You Do? and home renovation revival Extreme Makeover: Home Edition are also among the ABC unscripted series still awaiting renewal news. Dancing with the Stars, TV's #1 show, was previously renewed.
What do you think of this news? Will you be tuning in for the next seasons of any of these shows? Let us know in the comments below!
