ABC Renew/Cancel Week 11: The Great Christmas Light Fight Will Keep the Lights on Next Christmas

On the final ABC Renew/Cancel of 2025, we focus on a holiday staple on ABC that's still awaiting a renewal. Plus, an update on a show that recently had its prediction upgraded.

Certain Cancellation:
N/A

Likely Cancellation:
The Golden Bachelor (0.19, 0.16-0.28)

Leans Cancellation:
N/A

Leans Renewal:
N/A

Likely Renewal:

9-1-1 (0.33, 0.30-0.35)

9-1-1: Nashville (0.25, 0.20-0.29)

Celebrity Wheel of Fortune (0.23, 0.15-0.31)

The Great Christmas Light Fight (0.21, 0.20-0.22)

Grey's Anatomy (0.20, 0.13-0.27)

Shark Tank (0.15, 0.11-0.20)

Shifting Gears (0.34, 0.31-0.41)

Certain Renewal:

20/20 (0.17, 0.12-0.20)

Abbott Elementary (0.32, 0.26-0.38)

America's Funniest Home Videos (0.28, 0.25-0.29)

Dancing with the Stars (1.33, 1.02-2.06)

High Potential (0.34, 0.28-0.42)

Coming Soon:

American Idol

The Bachelorette

Celebrity Jeopardy!

RJ Decker

The Rookie

Scrubs

Will Trent

The Great Christmas Light Fight: For the first time in recent memory, The Great Christmas Light Fight has entered the holiday season without a renewal already announced. The show is typically renewed in November, before a new season has been renewed, because it films later that year. I suspect it's already been quietly renewed this year and ABC just didn't bother to announce it in a press release yet as they usually do. A casting call was put out for filming earlier in the summer, and the show itself also asked for applications, indicating a desire to film a fourteenth season and beyond. It is important to note that casting calls do not always mean a show is certainly renewed - some shows put out a note for casting just so they're prepared in the event a renewal occurs. In this case, it feel like a pretty good bet that it does indicate another season is coming next year. Light Fight has never been a ratings hit, but it has always been solid holiday filler for ABC, typically airing the three weeks preceding Christmas. It's produced at an extremely small price and allows ABC to air something original during a time of year with minimal original programming. Its ratings are perfectly fine for a show being used as extremely short-term filler. In fact, at a current 0.21 average, it's out-rating four regularly-scheduled ABC fall series, including the show whose time slot it has now assumed, Grey's Anatomy. This may not a show ABC ever sees as a top priority, money-making machine, but it's doing enough to get by, just as it has for the last decade. The only hangup is that it is unusual to not be renewed by now, but it's still a LIKELY RENEWAL.

Shifting Gears: A week after its upgrade to LIKELY RENEWAL, Shifting Gears is showing why that shift was completely warranted. It jumped to a season high 0.41 last week, even as lead-out Abbott Elementary stumbled to a season low. I had concerns over how this show would hold up over the course of the season, considering how much it dropped last season, so I'm very impressed to see it returning from a full month off and hitting a new season high for the seventh episode of the season. Its streaming performance is the only thing really holding this show back from being a major hit for ABC all-around. Still, being the highest-rated comedy on TV in L+SD ratings last week is a pretty good accomplishment, and it's the #3 comedy this season overall, too. ABC may have capped season two at only thirteen episodes, but its future on ABC will last well beyond that.

Interactive Schedule:

The TV Ratings Guide	8:00	8:30	9:00	10:00
Mon	Monday Night Football
Tues	Dancing with the Stars			High Potential
Wed	Shifting Gears	Abbott Elementary	The Golden Bachelor	Shark Tank
Thurs	9-1-1		9-1-1: Nashville	Grey's Anatomy
Fri	Celebrity Wheel of Fortune		20/20
Sat	Saturday Night Football
Sun	The Wonderful World of Disney