Welcome to a new installment of the Drama Scorecard, and after a short hiatus, we are back. New dramas have premiered, shifting several rankings. A disclaimer: the Sitcom and Drama Scorecards are completely different than the regular Renew/Cancel columns, which you can access by clicking on the Renew/Cancel tab at your leisure. And another disclaimer: this installment of the Drama Scorecard does not include this Sunday's God Friended Me or NCIS: LA ratings. They will be included in the next installment. Without further ado, here are the standings, as of January 13.
The CW renewals have taken the bottom of the board by storm even as the CW shows were on hiatus. For the CW, we know that linear ratings for renewals are essentially irrelevant. Yet, we still get to keep track of the ratings to see how embarrassingly low the CBS produced shows are compared to the mediocrely low rated WB produced shows. On a fun note, I can commend the CW for putting on original programming for the summer instead of repeats. Remember that infamous 0.0 for that Supernatural repeat? However, the summer offerings were even more embarrassingly low with most below both Charmed and Nancy Drew. Case in point, we can add insult to injury with Peaking's 0.0 rating for an original episode that aired on a Friday at 9:30 a few days before the start of the fall television season for the rest of the broadcast networks. The CW pulled embarrassing low numbers despite that, but at least Dynasty is not Peaking.
On NBC, newbies Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector and Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist scored a 0.6 each (waiting for finals for Lincoln Rhyme). Neither show has room to fall, but Zoey looks considerably weaker than Lincoln Rhyme considering that it is not even a Friday show. It's likely to do worse when it transitions to Sunday. Immediately, the Scorecard gives it a 20% chance right off the bat, as it is likely that NBC will change the schedule for midseason next season. Lincoln Rhyme, based on the Friday factor has a 45% chance right now, since Friday 8pm will be taken by either a new show or The Blacklist if it falls. And The Blacklist ties The Flash. That also has a 45% chance. Manifest's return was enough to grade it at Leading the Pack, a respectable number for 10pm even with a lower lead in. Let's just hope this is not a Revolution-level sophomore slump when it settles. Speaking of NBC, the number 1 network on the drama scorecard has an advantage when it comes to cutting some dead weight to make room for more dramas. Sure, they may keep underperforming veterans for profit margins (Good Girls), but this network is less patient with its newbies. Could they pity renew Lincoln and call it a day? They certainly could but it's not likely at this time. We'll see if Council of Dads pulls either another Rise or Taken season 1.
On ABC, Stumptown's 0.5s look increasingly problematic for the network. It's downgraded to 20% on this week's Scorecard. If For Life or The Baker and the Beauty looks better than Stumptown. If it gets renewed, then it will likely move to lower priority slots, such as Sunday 10pm. It's still doing okay in delayed viewing, but Wednesday 10pm will likely catch another show in the cancelation pile. If ABC was high on the show, they would have moved it to Thursdays like they did with last season's Wednesday 10pm occupant A Million Little Things.
On CBS, Magnum, PI and Hawaii Five-0 got a nice bounce from the crossover, and brought a nice uptick to Blue Bloods over the past couple of weeks. The Scorecard gave Blue Bloods, Magnum, and Bull up to Middle of the Pack at the risk of shortening up the anemic category. The debut of FBI: Most Wanted and Criminal Minds's final season return was a respectable return historically adjusted. Minds was steady from the late season aughts. FBI: Most Wanted was a tenth improvement on much of NCIS: NO. Although Sunday's getting an upgrade with the NCIS shows. But God Friended Me outside of football looks to be a complete dud. Its place in the middle of the pack looks to be inflated when its true strength ranks in the low end of anemic when you take out the football inflated ratings.
And on FOX, it's down, down, down for effectively canceled Almost Family. The recent 0.3 rating brought it below both The Flash and The Blacklist in the season average. It's now banished to Saturdays after the final Wednesday episode on January 15 where it will air the final two episodes on February 22. Likely, whatever ratings it gets will have it rank below How to Get Away with Murder at best, and below Madam Secretary at worst. Other than that, the rest of the dramas on FOX are miles ahead. Deputy's 0.74 average for the two episodes marks it as Middle of the Pack for now, but it's going to be neck and neck with The Resident, which recently received an upgrade.
What do you think about this week's standings? Sound off in the comments below!
