Certain to be Canceled:
N/A
Likely to be Canceled:
N/A
Leans Cancellation:
Bear Grylls is Running Wild (Fox) (0.12, 0.08-0.18)
Leans Renewal:
Press Your Luck (ABC) (0.25)
Farmer Wants a Wife (Fox) (0.14, 0.13-0.16)
Likely to be Renewed:
The 1% Club (Fox) (0.19, 0.13-0.23)
American Ninja Warrior (NBC) (0.18, 0.17-0.19)
Celebrity Family Feud (ABC) (0.31)
Password (NBC) (0.22, 0.16-0.29)
The Quiz with Balls (Fox) (0.18, 0.13-0.25)
Certain to be Renewed:
America's Got Talent (NBC) (0.37, 0.30-0.50)
Big Brother (CBS) (0.86)
Fate Determined:
Brilliant Minds (Canceled)
The Floor (Fox) (Renewed)
MasterChef (Fox) (Renewed)
Surviving Earth (NBC) (Miniseries)
Yet to Premiere:
Beat Shazam (Fox)
Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro (ABC)
Kitchen Nightmares (Fox)
Nation's Dumbest (Fox)
The Wall (NBC)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (ABC)
Press Your Luck: Last Thursday saw the return of several staples of summer. Among them, only Press Your Luck has found its future in any doubt in recent seasons. It's always been at least a decent ratings performer, and that remained the same as it debuted a new season. A 0.25 rating is a bit below last season's average (0.27), which also aired Thursdays at 9. It's also a noticeable drop from the 0.30 it premiered to last week, which is noteworthy, as ABC game shows do tend to be a bit front-loaded. However, it's nonetheless a respectable performance for a summer program. Heck, ABC renewed several scripted in-season shows with worse ratings, including 9-1-1: Nashville, which aired in this exact time slot. Streaming hasn't been Press Your Luck's strong suit, but it's done respectably so far, reaching #9 on Hulu's top fifteen chart and charting three days so far. That's much better than last season, where it failed to chart at all on Hulu in its premiere week, let alone multiple days.
A major concern of mine last season was not the show's ratings, which were basically fine, but rather the long gap in between filming, as last "season" was actually leftover episodes from a production cycle that began airing in 2024. I figured that, with ABC making cuts to its summer schedule, this show would be another victim of said cuts, and them not filming new episodes last year was one sign pointing in that direction. That was wrong, of course, and since they filmed new episodes this year, that's one major hurdle cleared. ABC thought this show was worth bringing back after a two-year filming hiatus, so they clearly do see some value in it. It will start as a renewal prediction, though I'll be cautious and label it only leans renewal, given that its history of dropping in the ratings as the season goes on, which could quickly leave it on shaky ground.
Celebrity Family Feud: Thursday was also the return of Celebrity Family Feud. It's seemingly the only game show left standing from a time when ABC was filled to the brim with summer game shows, all of the others either being outright canceled or disappearing without explanation. It was always the strongest of the game shows, so its continued presence on the schedule does make sense. It remains solid to this day, even if this season did mark its lowest premiere to date, down about 25% from last season's debut. Like Press Your Luck, Feud generally declines as the season progresses, so it's likely that this will be its lowest-rated season to date. Given the overall decline of ratings across the board, that's to be expected. A 0.31 is still a strong rating in this day and age. Will Trent aired at 8 PM and averaged less than that, while four other scripted shows on ABC also boasted lower season averages. It's arguably low by CFF's standards, but this would even be a solid result in the regular season. It's especially strong for a July premiere, on a night with above-average competition. When you add in how well Feud repeats perform for ABC (much like Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, there's rarely a huge difference between original and repeat ratings), it's unlikely we'll be seeing this show go anywhere this year. It starts a likely renewal, with an upgrade very likely to come by the end of the season.
What do you think of these predictions? What are your predictions? Let me know in the comments and vote in the poll of the week!
