ABC Renew/Cancel Week 16: Shifting Gears Stays Strong As It Parks Season Two

This week on the ABC Renew/Cancel, I take a final look at a strong ABC comedy as it becomes the first ABC scripted series of the season to close out its season. Plus, a further look at one of ABC's strongest hits!

Certain Cancellation:
N/A

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

Leans Cancellation:
N/A

Leans Renewal:
The Rookie (0.27, 0.25-0.29)

Likely Renewal:

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

9-1-1: Nashville (0.25, 0.18-0.32)

Celebrity Wheel of Fortune (0.23, 0.15-0.31)

The Great Christmas Light Fight (0.18, 0.14-0.22)

Grey's Anatomy (0.19, 0.13-0.27)

Shark Tank (0.16, 0.11-0.20)

Shifting Gears (0.37, 0.31-0.45)

Will Trent (0.37, 0.34-0.40)

Certain Renewal:

20/20 (0.18, 0.12-0.23)

Abbott Elementary (0.33, 0.26-0.43)

American Idol (0.59, 0.56-0.62)

America's Funniest Home Videos (0.30, 0.24-0.39)

Dancing with the Stars (1.36, 1.02-2.06)

High Potential (0.36, 0.28-0.42)

Already Canceled/Ending:

Dirty Talk: When Daytime Talk Shows Ruled TV (Miniseries)

Coming Soon:

The Bachelorette

Celebrity Jeopardy!

The Greatest Average American

RJ Decker

Scrubs

Shifting Gears: The very solid second season of Shifting Gears has come to an end, with the sitcom currently ranking as ABC's #1 scripted series by a hair (just two thousands ahead of Will Trent as of this week). That's just a 6% drop from its season one average, which included a stunning 0.66 premiere rating. Season two of Shifting Gears didn't go below or even tie it season one low of 0.30, slipping to a 0.31 at its worst point - still an above-average performance for a broadcast series. The show only strengthened in the second half of the season, with just one of its four rounded 0.3s coming if the back half of the season. That is so much better than I anticipated, as this show - which always solid, even last season - was definitely quite front-loaded in season one. It returned solidly, but under its season one average, and I did think we might see it continuing to weaken over the course of the season again, which would've probably put it on thin ice, as live ratings are this show's bread and butter. By instead strengthening as the season went on, Shifting Gears has really proven itself as a reliable player. It may be a "time slot hit" that massively benefits from the local lead-in, but those sort of shows are valuable. It's also clearly got a more casual audience, as its ratings did fluctuate a bit over the season and it certainly seemed to benefited from some weakened CBS competition during its run of episodes in 2026. Looking at the show from a live ratings perspective, it's a clear lock for renewal. The reason I'm still not upgrading it is that once multiplatform ratings are added in, it's one of ABC's weakest scripted shows in the 18-49 demo, with only Will Trent behind it from the ratings we currently have. I have a very hard time seeing ABC cutting a top scripted live performer, but it is unquestionable that multiplatform ratings matter moe than ever, and it's a major weakness for Shifting Gears. It does well enough in total viewers in multiplatform (much like Will Trent), suggesting that it's the younger in-demo crowd that it's struggling with in delayed viewing. I would be shocked not to see Shifting Gears return next season, and ABC comedy does look strong enough that we could see a comedy expansion again after a few years of record-low comedy hours, but I do wonder if the weak multiplatform gains are hinting at an overall weakness here that the live ratings are masking. Shifting Gears may not have quite as long of a run as you may think given its linear ratings strength, but it'll probably be just fine for now. It ends its second season as a likely renewal.

High Potential: High Potential has flown under-the-radar in this portion of the season, but not because it hasn't been impressive. High Potential has been such a success for ABC, and it's definitely their most promising series on the scripted side. This is a series that debuted to a 0.35 in the 18-49 demo last year and is now averaging roughly a 2.0 in MP+7 ratings. Last season, its MP+35 average was a 3.9, with 16 million viewers. It doesn't seem to be cooling off in the multiplatform data we've seen, with a 1.97 in MP+7 for its midseason premiere and a 2.17 for its episode two weeks later. The Rookie isn't too far behind, but High Potential has far more viewers, and will likely really pull ahead in MP+35, just as it did last year. It's also so solid in the linear ratings. While it looked shaky behind those massive Dancing with the Stars ratings, it's actually managed to grow since moving to 9 PM, notching strong 0.4s for most episodes since it returned from its midseason break. It rises consistently from Will Trent (which itself looks quite solid), and is always the top scripted series on Tuesdays, and one of the top scripted series of the week overall. It may well be ABC's #1 scripted series by the end of the season, as it's just a single hundredth behind Shifting Gears now. It enters a brief Olympics/State of the Union-inspired hiatus again, and it's on strong footing by now. It's the safest of any ABC scripted series, and I would not be surprised if we got a renewal before it returned from its current break. It's a certain renewal, and it's so impressive to see a new show continuing to thrive in such a way.

Interactive Schedule:

The TV Ratings Guide	8:00	8:30	9:00	10:00
Mon	American Idol			The Rookie
Tues	Will Trent		High Potential	Encores
Wed	Shifting Gears	Abbott Elementary	Dirty Talk	Shark Tank
Thurs	9-1-1		9-1-1: Nashville	Grey's Anatomy
Fri	Celebrity Wheel of Fortune		20/20
Sat	NBA Saturday Primetime
Sun	The Wonderful World of Disney