The 2024-25 regular TV season is officially over, which means one thing: summer's here! The networks have already debuted a few of their summer entries, including a few veteran shows and a pair of rookies. Keep reading for my initial placements for the four shows that have premiered thus far!
Certain to be Canceled:
N/A
Likely to be Canceled:
Yes, Chef! (NBC) (0.15, 0.12-0.19)
Leans Cancellation:
N/A
Leans Renewal:
Gordon Ramsay's Secret Service (Fox) (0.19)
Likely to be Renewed:
LEGO Masters (Fox) (0.19)
MasterChef (Fox) (0.17)
Certain to be Renewed:
N/A
Fate Determined:
Bob's Burgers (Fox) (Renewed)
Bob's Burgers (Fox) (Renewed)
Family Guy (Fox) (Renewed)
Grimsburg (Fox) (Renewed)
Coming Soon:
Coming Soon:
The 1% Club (Fox)
America's Got Talent (NBC)
American Ninja Warrior (NBC)
American Ninja Warrior (NBC)
Bachelor in Paradise (ABC)
Big Brother (CBS)
Celebrity Family Feud (ABC)
Destination X (NBC)
The Great North (Fox)
Match Game (ABC)
Press Your Luck (ABC)
The Quiz with Balls (Fox)
Raid the Cage (CBS)
The Snake (Fox)
Survival Mode (NBC)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (ABC)
Yes, Chef!: Yes, Chef! is a bit of a scheduling oddity. NBC deputed it very late in the spring, airing it behind the last few weeks of the spring season of The Voice. In that run, the show has not looked impressive whatsoever, with a 0.15 average, going as low as 0.12. While The Voice has had a rough season, Yes, Chef! is not looking like a strong entry for NBC. It sounds a household name in Martha Stewart as one of its hosts, and Jose Andres is also quite well-known, but it hasn't drawn in viewers thus far. Even in its best week, which was last week, it only managed a rounded 0.2. The 0.19 it drew behind The Voice's Monday night finale is an OK rating for a cheap filler program, but had a retention rate of just 53%. That's been about what it's been retaining from The Voice for its entire run, so that's about what I'd expect out of its new lead-in, American Ninja Warrior, which will probably rate the same as The Voice. Yes, Chef! will most likely stick around that 0.15 average for the season as a whole. Now, that's a poor result, but not abnormal for NBC. They renewed two freshman dramas that sunk close to (or even lower than) that 0.15 range, so Yes, Chef! is not entirely DOA. However, low-priority filler shows like this come and go. NBC (and, really, most of the broadcast networks) has had a tendency to have one-and-done summer shows in recent years. In the last five seasons, only Password has returned for a second season of the new NBC summer reality series. That's for good reason - none of the others did well at all, performing roughly the same as Yes, Chef! has. Even a veteran series like Weakest Link was canceled with better ratings after last summer's run, so Yes, Chef! faces long odds as it battles for a renewal. Averaging less than half the league average is probably not going to cut it. It's a LIKELY CANCELLATION out of the starting gate, though NBC's got two more chances to find a new summer reality show that works for them later this season.
Gordon Ramsay's Secret Service: The other new summer cooking show is Fox's latest Gordon Ramsay series. The legendary British chef has four other ongoing series on Fox, but with the recent two-season entry Food Stars bombing badly last season, it was time to find yet another new entry. Enter Secret Service. This series debuted last weekend didn't get much help from MasterChef, which hit a new series low in its debut. MasterChef, Ramsay's Fox summer staple, often gets off to a poor start, but usually gains steam as the season goes on, so its low start doesn't concern me tremendously (though last season didn't see a similar growth pattern, so it could be a rough season ahead for the veteran show). Despite the weak showing from MasterChef, Secret Service did the best it could, growing a few hundredths at 0.19. That was enough to tie the premiere rating of Food Stars last season, while MasterChef returned down 43%. The show is also performing very well on Hulu, and has been in the top five there since its premiere - again outperforming MasterChef. Despite that, I am exercising a bit of caution. A 0.19 is still a fairly tepid debut for a brand-new series, and we could see it declining a concerning amount as the season unfolds, similar to Food Stars. It wouldn't take all that large of a decline to put Secret Service in cancellation territory. As we've seen, they're willing to cancel a Ramsay series that's underperforming - they certainly have enough shows with him to not worry about canceling one. It starts as LEANS RENEWAL, but all of the signs are encouraging at this stage.
What do you think of my news? What are your predictions? Let me know in the comments and vote in the poll of the week!
