Friday TV Ratings 1/30/26: WWE SmackDown Jumps, College Basketball Easily Leads, Happy’s Place and Stumble Slide [+ Analysis]

After last week's surge, Happy's Place (0.25, -0.07) and Stumble (0.15, -0.07) both came crashing down on NBC, but Dateline (0.19, 0.00) showcased stability. ABC aired a shockingly strong Celebrity Wheel rerun (0.38) and 20/20 (0.24, +0.01). A Grammy Awards special (0.12) underwhelmed on CBS, while Fox's college basketball broadcast (0.54) was the top-rated program of the night. On the CW, Masters of Illusion (0.04, 0.00) tied its last original. Key: (R) = repeat.

New Show Midseason Power Rankings: How 9-1-1: Nashville, DMV, and More Stack Up Headed Into 2026

 

Friday TV Ratings 12/19/25: Happy’s Place and Stumble Hit Series Lows, Sheriff Country and Fire Country Also Sink, College Football Playoffs Dominate [+ Analysis]

NBC sitcoms Happy's Place (0.18, -0.05) and Stumble (0.11, -0.03) both slipped on Friday night, and the latter even lost to a repeat of Dateline (0.12). On CBS, Sheriff Country (0.19, -0.07), Fire Country (0.17, -0.03), and Boston Blue (0.15, -0.02) also declined. ABC's college football game (1.27) easily trounced Fox's college basketball (0.13). The CW aired Yogi's First Christmas (0.04). Key: (R) = repeat.

NBC Adds Stumble and The Paper to Fall Schedule

NBC has once again updated their fall schedule, and will now debut a new scripted series this fall after all.  Stumble, the recently-ordered cheerleading comedy starring Jenn Lyon, will now premiere on Friday, November 7, airing behind Happy's Place. Reba McEntire's sophomore sitcom was initially set to air double episodes this fall, but will now air once weekly at 8 PM, and will also premiere on November 7, as previously announced. Stumble is not the only change to the NBC fall schedule. Peacock's The Paper, a spinoff of The Office, will now get a broadcast run, something long rumored to be in the cards. It will air Monday nights after St. Denis Medical, debuting November 10. That's one week after St. Denis Medical's premiere, so while the plans to double-pump St. Denis Medical are now scrapped, it will likely still have a two-episode premiere. This is the second alteration to the network's initial schedule, after they previously pulled season two of The Hunting Party from the fall lineup in favor of a linear run of the Peacock-exclusive season of Law & Order: Organized Crime. This news means that new sitcom The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins will now be the only midseason debut of a new scripted series on NBC this season.

Stumble Ordered to Series by NBC

NBC is ready to cheer on its newest comedy. The network has ordered its second new comedy series for the 2025-26 season, cheerleading sitcom Stumble The project was ordered to pilot several months ago, and was seen as a possible option to air in one of two yet-to-be-announced vacant slots on NBC's fall schedule. Even with this pickup, NBC has not set any plans in space for those two half-hour slots. We do know, however, that Stumble will air somewhere on NBC's schedule next season. Stumble focuses on a disgraced cheerleading coach who once was known as the greatest coach in junior college cheer history, who now takes on a job coaching an underdog team in the hopes of winning her record-breaking fifteenth championship. Jenn Lyon will star in the series alongside Taran Killam, Ryan Pinkston, Jarrett Austin Brown, Anissa Borrego, Arianna Davis, Taylor Dunbar and Georgie Murphy. Kristin Chenoweth will have a recurring role in the series.