This week on the Summer Renew/Cancel, I take another look at one of the summer's surprising success stories as the end of summer draws near. Plus, a final guess for a game show that recently wrapped up its latest season.
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)
Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro (ABC) (0.29, 0.21-0.43)
The Wall (NBC) (0.16, 0.13-0.18)
Leans Renewal:
Beat Shazam (Fox) (0.25, 0.23-0.25)
Press Your Luck (ABC) (0.26, 0.17-0.30)
Farmer Wants a Wife (Fox) (0.14, 0.13-0.16)
Likely to be Renewed:
American Ninja Warrior (NBC) (0.27, 0.17-0.34)
Big Brother: Unlocked (CBS) (0.31, 0.21-0.40)
Celebrity Family Feud (ABC) (0.33, 0.22-0.43)
Password (NBC) (0.23, 0.16-0.29)
The Quiz with Balls (Fox) (0.18, 0.13-0.25)
Certain to be Renewed:
The 1% Club (Fox) (0.20, 0.13-0.26)
America's Got Talent (NBC) (0.39, 0.30-0.50)
Big Brother (CBS) (0.70, 0.57-0.86)
Kitchen Nightmares (Fox) (0.26, 0.25-0.29)
Nation's Dumbest (Fox) (0.27, 0.25-0.30)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (ABC) (0.39, 0.35-0.46)
Fate Determined:
Brilliant Minds (Canceled)
The Floor (Fox) (Renewed)
MasterChef (Fox) (Renewed)
Surviving Earth (NBC) (Miniseries)
Nation's Dumbest: One could argue that nothing has been more surprising this summer than the runaway success of Fox's latest reality series, Nation's Dumbest. Airing Wednesdays at 9 PM, series currently rates as Fox's #1 summer series, with a 0.27 average in the key 18-49 demo. That's higher than all but two scripted series on Fox this season (both heavily boosted by an NFL lead-in) and three reality shows (one of which was also NFL-boosted). Its streaming performance is also fairly respectable, though not as strong as its linear showings, as a few Fox shows do beat it there.
When Nation's Dumbest was announced, I certainly didn't have high hopes for it. I find it hard to believe Fox was expecting it to be this successful, either. It's not really the sort of show we see finding success in the summer. Most of Fox's promising reality series are aired during the season. That's where current staples The Masked Singer and The Floor got their start. Fox's top summer shows are typically their Gordon Ramsay series, which have a long history on the network. They've found success in recent years with The 1% Club and The Quiz with Balls, but neither of those shows were such glaringly strong ratings performers at the start (nor are they as strong today). Nation's Dumbest came out of nowhere, and could have easily been the next in a line of duds (think of last season's The Snake or The Fixer) that Fox tried out in the summer. Instead, it's actually found an audience, and is consistently growing from its lead-in, even in Friday night repeats. All in all, Fox has clearly found a new success with Nation's Dumbest, and they aren't going to let it go. It's a certain renewal.
Press Your Luck: One of ABC's few summer series has already reached the end of its current season, after airing just seven episodes. It was a season of impressive stability, declining less than 2% from its episodes from summer 2025, and usually holding a solid portion of its Celebrity Family Feud lead-in (in one case, even tying it). It's hard to tell what ABC's long-term plans for Press Your Luck are. It's already well into its run, surpassing the number of seasons To Tell The Truth or the original run of Match Game aired before ABC axed them, and nearing the number of seasons The $100,000 Pyramid reached before ABC placed it on a lengthy hiatus. ABC doesn't seem to view Press Your Luck as a priority, and it's very possible that Press Your Luck is simply nearing the end of its natural life span. Their decision to recently push the show to 10 PM for a week in favor of the (incredibly low-rated) Patriot Games was fairly bizarre, and not how we'd generally see a network treat a show they're trying to nurture - especially one that will live or die based on linear viewership. Still, its ratings remain solid - including in that 10 PM airing, when it rose noticeably from the Patriot Games - and it's clearly done well enough to justify ordering more episodes if ABC wants to continue it. Nothing from this season's performance really points to a cancellation being warranted, but it hasn't been so strong that you can fully rule out the possibility of it being quietly canceled like several of ABC's other game show revivals. Leans renewal feels right for it.
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!
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