Life In Pieces Canceled by CBS

Single-cam comedy Life In Pieces has been canceled CBS. Though the series was a decent performer last season, it was benched by the network, only premiering season 4 in mid-April. This was a pretty clear sign that CBS didn't see much of a future for the show at their network. The show's performance this season, which was in-line with newbies Murphy Brown and Fam, wasn't enough to get it another go-round, and Life In Pieces' seniority and it nearly being at syndication numbers wasn't enough to get it a renewal. Colin Hanks, Betsy Brandt, Thomas Sadowski, Zoe Lister-Jones, Dianne Wiest and James Brolin star in the series, which features a large ensemble cast.

What do you think of this news? Will you miss Life In Pieces? Let us know in the comments below!

Life in Pieces Renewed for Fourth Season

CBS's 20th TV-produced comedy Life In Pieces has been renewed for a third season. Considering the ratings (a cool 1.1 average, down about 10%), this much of a suprise, though there were reports that the comedy was sitting on the bubble. Despite this, the family comedy survived. Life In Pieces features a large ensemble cast that includes Oscar-winner Dianne Wiest, Emmy-winner James Brolin,  Colin Hanks, and Zoe Lister-Jones. This was a correct prediction for The TV Ratings Guide.

What do you think of this renewal? Are you happy that Life In Pieces will be returning? Let us know in the comments below.

CBS Renew/Cancel: ‘Superior Donuts’ & ‘Criminal Minds’ Updated, ‘Instinct’ Debuts

"Superior Donuts" | CBS

Welcome to the CBS Renew/Cancel Watch. All in-season, scripted primetime shows airing on CBS in the 2017-18 season are included in the prediction table below. My predictions are current as of March 23, 2018.

The key to the right indicates the colors associated with each prediction. The data in the table includes current season lows, highs, and averages (Adults 18-49 demo), as well as the year-to-year changes for returning shows. The shows are ordered by their season averages against other scripted CBS shows.

Rank	Show	Season Low / High /Average	Y2Y Change
1	The Big Bang Theory	2.5 / 4.1 / 2.87	-7%
2	Young Sheldon	1.8 / 3.8 / 2.34	--
3	Mom	1.4 / 1.8 / 1.50	+5%
4	NCIS	1.2 / 1.6 / 1.44	-16%
5	Kevin Can Wait	1.0 / 2.3 / 1.25	-22%
6	Bull	1.0 / 1.3 / 1.20	-16%
7	Life In Pieces	1.1 / 1.3 / 1.17	-7%
8	SEAL Team	0.8 / 1.5 / 1.05	--
9	Man with a Plan	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.03	-17%
10	S.W.A.T.	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.01	--
11	Hawaii Five-0	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.00	-12%
-	Instinct	- / 1.0 / 1.00	--
-	Me, Myself & I	0.7 / 1.6 / 1.00	--
14	Criminal Minds	0.9 / 1.3 / 0.99	-29%
-	NCIS: New Orleans	0.9 / 1.1 / 0.99	-16%
16	9JKL	0.7 / 1.5 / 0.97	--
17	NCIS: LA	0.8 / 1.3 / 0.95	-27%
18	Blue Bloods	0.8 / 1.1 / 0.94	-24%
19	Superior Donuts	0.8 / 1.0 / 0.93	-21%
20	Wisdom of the Crowd	0.7 / 1.3 / 0.91	--
21	MacGyver	0.8 / 0.9 / 0.86	-20%
22	Scorpion	0.7 / 1.0 / 0.83	-30%
23	Living Biblically	0.7 / 0.8 / 0.73	--
24	Madam Secretary	0.6 / 0.8 / 0.66	-25%

CRIMINAL MINDS The reasons for the show's uncertain fate have been written and explored time and again: it's old, expensive, co-owned, and has had to endure cast shake-ups in the past few years. Its move to 10pm this season accelerated its y2y decline, and while it's averaging an OK 1.0 rating in the slot, it's not bringing much weight to the night anymore. SEAL Team is arguably wasting the potential in Criminal Minds' previous 9pm slot, but there's reason to believe that CBS will want to protect its 100% owned, highest rated freshman drama, and #3 drama over the aging veteran. They need space on the schedule and this would be a reasonable cancellation to make if the costs are just too high for what they're getting out of a 13 year old show. The argument could be made that it deserves a sendoff season, though CBS isn't notorious for providing that treatment. Complicated negotiations with ABC Studios will likely leave the show off of CBS's early renewal radar, but for the purposes of making a more definitive prediction away from the bubble, I have it as Likely to be Canceled at this time. 
SUPERIOR DONUTS What's clear is that CBS needs to improve their Mondays going forward. Kevin Can Wait and Man with a Plan are the strongest players on the night from 8-9 and are expected to be around for awhile. The revolving door of new comedies, including 9JKL, Living Biblically, and Me, Myself & I are not. While the Monday comedies are not really anchor-worthy, Superior Donuts is least qualified for that heavy lifting. To be fair, it's only down a tenth or two from the 8-9 block on any given week, but it's failing to make any sophomore gains (it's down 21% y2y) even with a fall start and a full season to play out at the top of an hour. It'll count 34 episodes by the end of the season, which is easily within the range of a painless cancellation. As for CBS's other comedies, Young Sheldon is the comedy breakout CBS needed to develop this year. The Big Bang Theory, Mom, and Life In Pieces are expected back, and that's all the network needs. CBS has made some interesting choices in the past, such as renewing The Odd Couple twice. Something similar could happen to Superior Donuts, but at this point it doesn't seem worth CBS's while to drag another low-rated sitcom to syndication. The quality of their pilots could be the determining factor, and that's not for me to try to predict. From what I see, it's Likely to be Canceled at this time. 
INSTINCT Since it's aired only one episode so far, Instinct is firmly on the bubble. Its 1.0 premiere rating is fine, but it is likely to fall from this data point going forward as we've seen in the past. S.W.A.T. is probably the safest newbie, with SEAL Team fighting and Instinct yet to prove itself as a contender. CBS has renewed midseason shows in the past, though the ones that come to mind were spinoffs (CSI: Cyber and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders). It shouldn't be included in a batch of early renewals, so I feel comfortable leaving it On the Bubble for now.

CBS Renew/Cancel: ‘Living Biblically’ Faces Certain Death

Jay R. Ferguson | CBS

Welcome to the CBS Renew/Cancel Watch. All in-season, scripted primetime shows airing on CBS in the 2017-18 season are included in the prediction table below. My predictions are current as of March 12, 2018.

The key to the right indicates the colors associated with each prediction. The data in the table includes current season lows, highs, and averages (Adults 18-49 demo), as well as the year-to-year changes for returning shows. The shows are ordered by their season averages against other scripted CBS shows.

Rank	Show	Season Low / High /Average	Y2Y Change
1	The Big Bang Theory	2.5 / 4.1 / 2.87	+3%
2	Young Sheldon	1.8 / 3.8 / 2.33	--
3	Mom	1.4 / 1.8 / 1.50	+5%
4	NCIS	1.2 / 1.6 / 1.44	-16%
5	Kevin Can Wait	1.1 / 2.3 / 1.27	-21%
6	Bull	1.0 / 1.3 / 1.19	-17%
7	Life In Pieces	1.1 / 1.3 / 1.17	-7%
8	SEAL Team	0.9 / 1.5 / 1.06	--
9	Man with a Plan	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.05	-15%
10	Hawaii Five-0	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.00	-12%
-	S.W.A.T.	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.00	--
-	Criminal Minds	0.9 / 1.3 / 1.00	-28%
-	Me, Myself & I	0.7 / 1.6 / 1.00	--
14	NCIS: New Orleans	0.9 / 1.1 / 0.99	-16%
15	9JKL	0.7 / 1.5 / 0.97	--
16	NCIS: LA	0.8 / 1.3 / 0.96	-27%
17	Superior Donuts	0.8 / 1.0 / 0.94	-19%
-	Blue Bloods	0.8 / 1.1 / 0.94	-24%
19	Wisdom of the Crowd	0.7 / 1.3 / 0.91	--
20	MacGyver	0.8 / 0.9 / 0.86	-20%
21	Scorpion	0.7 / 1.0 / 0.83	-30%
22	Living Biblically	0.7 / 0.8 / 0.75	--
23	Madam Secretary	0.6 / 0.8 / 0.67	-23%

LIVING BIBLICALLY It's not a surprise that the midseason series tanked in its debut. It was never expected to be in a position to succeed, as CBS's Mondays are lacking in strength under Kevin Can Wait and Man with a Plan's leadership, as well as the fact that midseason runs tend to be rough. With a 0.8 and 0.7 across two airings, the religious sitcom is already certain to be cancelled. There's no upside to its dismal performance, especially for an unowned show that is merely continuing a terrible 9:30 trend. It always seemed like its order was mostly a favor to The Big Bang Theory's Johnny Galecki, who EPs the Warner Bros. production, so the loss doesn't seem significant. Moreover, Superior Donuts is the favorite fractional sitcom that stands a chance to make it out of this season alive, and even that is very far from a sure thing. 
With the expectation of early CBS renewals coming soon, new predictions will be made for Superior Donuts and Criminal Minds in the next edition of the CBS R/C. 

CBS Renew/Cancel: ‘S.W.A.T.’ Likely to be Renewed

Shemar Moore ("S.W.A.T.") | CBS

Welcome to the CBS Renew/Cancel Watch. All in-season, scripted primetime shows airing on CBS in the 2017-18 season are included in the prediction table below. My predictions are current as of December 28, 2017.

The key to the right indicates the colors associated with each prediction. The data in the table includes current season lows, highs, and averages (Adults 18-49 demo), as well as the year-to-year changes for returning shows. The shows are ordered by their season averages against other scripted CBS shows.

Rank	Show	Season Low / High /Average	Y2Y Change
1	The Big Bang Theory	2.5 / 4.1 / 2.89	-7%
2	Young Sheldon	1.8 / 3.8 / 2.33	--
3	Mom	1.4 / 1.8 / 1.54	+2%
4	NCIS	1.4 / 1.6 / 1.43	-17%
5	Kevin Can Wait	1.1 / 2.3 / 1.29	-20%
6	Bull	1.0 / 1.3 / 1.19	-17%
7	Life In Pieces	1.1 / 1.3 / 1.15	-9%
8	SEAL Team	0.9 / 1.5 / 1.14	--
9	Criminal Minds	0.9 / 1.3 / 1.05	-25%
10	Man with a Plan	0.9 / 1.0 / 1.02	-18%
11	S.W.A.T.	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.01	--
-	Me, Myself & I	0.7 / 1.6 / 1.01	--
-	NCIS: New Orleans	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.01	-14%
14	Hawaii Five-0	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.02	-10%
15	9JKL	0.7 / 1.5 / 0.99	--
16	NCIS: LA	0.8 / 1.3 / 0.95	-27%
17	Blue Bloods	0.8 / 1.1 / 0.94	-25%
-	Wisdom of the Crowd	0.7 / 1.3 / 0.94	--
19	Superior Donuts	0.8 / 1.0 / 0.91	-22%
20	MacGyver	0.8 / 0.9 / 0.84	-23%
21	Scorpion	0.7 / 1.0 / 0.83	-31%
22	Madam Secretary	0.6 / 0.8 / 0.67	-24%

S.W.A.T. The new drama has averaged just over a 1.0 across eight airings. That's rather impressive when compared directly to CBS's other new dramas. Specifically, this looks rather good against SEAL Team, which airs an hour earlier on Wednesdays, has one of the network's biggest lead-ins, and has only done marginally better despite the help. Of course, Wisdom of the Crowd has turned less than favorable results on Sundays and was not given a full season's confidence by CBS. This leaves S.W.A.T. and SEAL Team in serious contention for renewal, and as it stands now they both seem viable. Compared to past Thursday at 10 occupants, the show is a notable improvement over Pure Genius,, Training Day, and Rush Hour. I've upgraded S.W.A.T. to Likely to be Renewed status due to its stability, good 10pm numbers and improvement of the time slot, and CBS's full season order. 

CBS Renew/Cancel: ‘Mom,’ ‘Young Sheldon,’ and ‘Life In Pieces’ are Certain to be Renewed

Anna Faris, Allison Janney ("Mom") | CBS

Welcome to the CBS Renew/Cancel Watch. All in-season, scripted primetime shows airing on CBS in the 2017-18 season are included in the prediction table below. My current predictions are current as of November 27, 2017.

The key to the right indicates the colors associated with each prediction. The data in the table includes current season lows, highs, and averages (Adults 18-49 demo), as well as the year-to-year changes for returning shows. The shows are ordered by their season averages against other scripted CBS shows.

Rank	Show	Season Low / High /Average	Y2Y Change
1	The Big Bang Theory	2.6 / 4.1 / 2.99	-4%
2	Young Sheldon	2.1 / 3.8 / 2.58	--
3	Mom	1.4 / 1.8 / 1.54	+8%
4	NCIS	1.4 / 1.6 / 1.43	-17%
5	Kevin Can Wait	1.1 / 2.3 / 1.41	-16%
6	Life In Pieces	1.1 / 1.3 / 1.21	-4%
7	Bull	1.0 / 1.3 / 1.18	-17%
8	SEAL Team	0.9 / 1.5 / 1.14	--
9	9JKL	0.8 / 1.5 / 1.09	--
10	Criminal Minds	0.9 / 1.3 / 1.06	-24%
11	S.W.A.T.	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.04	--
12	Hawaii Five-0	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.02	-10%
13	NCIS: New Orleans	1.0 / 1.1 / 1.01	-14%
-	Me, Myself & I	0.7 / 1.6 / 1.01	--
15	Man with a Plan	- / 1.0 / 1.00	-19%
16	Blue Bloods	0.9 / 1.1 / 0.96	-23%
-	Wisdom of the Crowd	0.7 / 1.3 / 0.96	--
18	NCIS: LA	0.8 / 1.3 / 0.95	-27%
19	Superior Donuts	0.8 / 1.0 / 0.93	-21%
20	MacGyver	0.8 / 0.9 / 0.84	-22%
21	Scorpion	0.7 / 1.0 / 0.83	-31%
22	Madam Secretary	0.6 / 0.8 / 0.67	-23%

Mom, Young Sheldon, Life In Pieces  CBS may have some trouble with its comedy line-up on Monday, but Thursdays are looking relatively strong so far. The Big Bang Theory finally has a lead-out that is holding its own for more than an episode or two. It's obvious that the network wants to groom Young Sheldon to replace the hole left behind by The Big Bang Theory when it leaves the air in the near future, and the ratings have shown that audiences have given the spinoff solid consideration so far. Mom is actually up 8 percent from last year at this point, thanks to Sheldon, and is holding well in the 9pm hour. It realistically won't face much trouble until the end of its presumptive sixth season, which is when Mike & Molly and 2 Broke Girls were both let go. Life In Pieces is doing about as well as it can at 9:30 and benefits from being in its third year. It's doing better than three of the four Monday comedies, so it should be totally safe this year.  Man with a Plan
It was only a matter of time before the Matt LeBlanc comedy joined the Monday block once more, and the call came after Me, Myself & I and 9JKL failed to take off. With the former pulled from the schedule and effectively cancelled, and the latter expected to ride out its 16-episode order quietly, CBS is probably looking to keep this one around. It produced 22 episodes in its first season, which gives it an advantage over Superior Donuts' 13. Out of the four Monday comedies, my bet is on Man with a Plan being the second strongest asset in CBS's eyes, and if they keep more than Kevin Can Wait after this year, I expect Man to join it.

Superior Donuts
Donuts is one show that is heavily toeing the line between the bubble and likely renewal. It's doing fine for the 9:00 hour, down slightly from what Kevin was doing a few weeks ago but on a night without the inflation of The Big Bang Theory. It's stronger than its lead-out, but it becomes a question of how much CBS wants to keep going into next season. It's a little early to say, so I'm keeping my eye on it. The network didn't cancel much last season and gave this little show a chance to improve in a fall position, so I'd say it's hopeful to cross the line into renewal territory in the future. Wisdom of the Crowd The freshman tech/cop drama has been effectively cancelled by CBS and is reflected as such in the table. This was a correct prediction. 

Rebecca's CBS Fall Schedule Prediction

CBS's fall schedule will be announced soon, and I have my thoughts on what CBS will do. Note that these are my predictions and not necessarily what I hope they'll do.

Monday (early fall):
8:00- The Big Bang Theory
8:30- Young Sheldon
9:00- Life in Pieces
9:30- Superior Donuts
10:00- Scorpion
I'm going to be honest here: I had no idea what to do with the Monday schedule for early fall. I knew that I wanted Young Sheldon to get the Big Bang lead-in, but after that things get messy. I have no idea what the 9 PM hour should be. I'm guessing that Life in Pieces will move to Mondays to air with   fellow single-cam Young Sheldon, so I'll slot LIP post-Sheldon. I don't know what to do after that, but I'm just guessing that Superior Donuts will go there. Scorpion will likely return to 10.

Monday (late fall):
8:00- Kevin Can Wait
8:30- Man With a Plan
9:00-Young Sheldon
9:30- Life in Pieces
10:00- Scorpion
This was a lot easier to make than the early fall version. Kevin and Man With a Plan are doing fine and should return to the 8PM hour. After getting a boost from The Big Bang Theory for awhile, Young Sheldon should get to lead a single-cam hour with Life in Pieces that I discussed earlier.

Tuesday:
8:00- NCIS
9:00- SEAL Team
10:00- NCIS: New Orleans
Bull has done well this season, but not amazing. I think it should be moved to give another show the NCIS lead-in. I think the most compatible and the series most likely to get the slot is SEAL Team. NCIS: NOLA should stay at 10.

Wednesday:
8:00- Survivor
9:00- Criminal Minds
10:00- SWAT
While I personally would prefer for Criminal Minds to move to 10, I think CBS will leave it there to lead into a new series. That new series should absolutely be SWAT. It stars former Criminal Minds star Shemar Moore, so the Criminal Minds audience will likely embrace the series. They're likely very compatible in tone as well. Survivor should remain as the night's lead-off.

Thursday (post-football):
8:00- The Big Bang Theory
8:30- 9JKL
9:00- Mom
9:30- Superior Donuts
10:00- Code Black
The Big Bang Theory continues to be the #1 show on CBS, so it will obviously lead off the night. It should lead into a new series, which I believe will be 9JKL. I think 9JKL has enormous potential and can do very well. Mom should remain at 9, because it's doing very well there. Superior Donuts is in dire need of help, and as an owned series, CBS should do whatever it takes to try and save it. The 10 slot is a huge disaster. Nothing does very well there, and even the Amazing Race has struggled a bit. Instead of banishing a new show to the slot, they should move a veteran (or at least a sophomore) to that slot. As I've already put new shows in their slots, Code Black and Bull are the only shows that fit this. Bull is doing to well to move there. While Code Black does fine, it's not a hit and could be used to fill this undesirable slot.

Friday:
8:00- MacGyver
9:00- Hawaii Five-0
10:00- Blue Bloods
The CBS Friday lineup has done well this year, and though MacGyver doesn't do as well as it seemed it could early in its run, it's helped Hawaii Five-0, so this lineup should remain.

Saturday:
8:00- Elementary
9:00- Crimetime Saturday
10:00- 48 Hours
Elementary is doing terrible. It only got renewed because of how much money CBS makes because of it, and the ratings don't really matter. So why not move it to Saturday? It can make CBS money in a low-priority slot.

Sunday:
7:00- 60 Minutes
8:00- NCIS: Los Angeles
9:00- Bull
10:00- Madam Secretary
NCIS: Los Angeles made the move to Sundays seamlessly, and it's even year to year. It should stay in that 8 PM slot. Madam Secretary, however, has not done very well. It should move to the 10 PM slot to rack up episodes for syndication. Bull is a show that I think could fit in very well at 9. It would still air behind an NCIS show, albeit a weaker one. It could probably do very well and should easily improve the slot over Madam Secretary.

What do you think about my predictions? What would you do if you were CBS? What do you think CBS will do? Let me know in the comments below.

CBS Renew/Cancel: 'Doubt' Likely to be Canceled

Welcome to the second edition of the TV Ratings Guide's CBS Renew/Cancel Watch. All scripted, primetime shows are included in the prediction table below once they have premiered for the season. An analysis of any new prediction changes or observations follows. My current predictions are as of February 18, 2016.

The key to the right indicates which colors are associated with each prediction. The data in the table includes season lows, highs, and averages (Adults 18-49 demo), as well as the year-to-year changes for returning shows that have not already been officially renewed or canceled. These are provided for reasoning with and understanding my predictions. The shows are ordered by their season averages against only other scripted CBS shows.

Rank	Show	Season Low / High /Average	Y2Y Change
1	The Big Bang Theory	2.8 / 3.8 / 3.33	-10.9%
2	NCIS	1.7 / 2.2 / 1.84	-16.6%
3	Kevin Can Wait	1.3 / 2.7 / 1.77	--
4	Superior Donuts	1.3 / 1.9 / 1.56	--
5	The Great Indoors	1.1 / 1.9 / 1.56	--
6	Bull	1.3 / 2.2 / 1.55	--
7	Mom	1.2 / 1.7 / 1.46	-13.9%
8	Criminal Minds	1.2 / 1.9 / 1.43	-20.1%
9	NCIS: LA	1.0 / 1.7 / 1.43	+8.1%
10	2 Broke Girls	1.2 / 1.7 / 1.39	-13.7%
11	Man with a Plan	1.1 / 1.6 / 1.35	--
12	Life in Pieces	1.0 / 1.5 / 1.31	-34.6%
13	Scorpion	1.1 / 1.5 / 1.25	-29.6%
14	NCIS: New Orleans	1.0 / 1.5 / 1.23	-29.6%
15	Hawaii Five-0	1.1 / 1.4 / 1.21	+5.8%
16	Blue Bloods	1.1 / 1.3 / 1.20	-3.2%
17	MacGyver	0.9 / 1.7 / 1.13	--
18	The Odd Couple	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.02	-27.3%
19	Code Black	0.7 / 1.2 / 0.97	-23.5%
20	Madam Secretary	0.7 / 1.1 / 0.95	-20.6%
21	Pure Genius	0.7 / 1.0 / 0.86	--
22	Doubt	- / 0.8 / 0.80	--
23	Training Day	0.7 / 0.9 / 0.80	--
24	Elementary	0.5 / 0.8 / 0.68	-29.0%
25	Ransom	0.3 / 0.8 / 0.47	--

The new Katherine Heigl legal drama Doubt premiered this week to an anemic 0.8 in the demo, down 38.5 percent from its Criminal Minds lead-in (which should really retire into the 10pm slot next year). There weren't great expectations for the new drama, which joins Training Day as another failed midseason attempt. With a slim chance for improvement in the weeks to come, Doubt starts as Likely to be Canceled and will be downgraded to Certain if next week's result is in similar fractional territory.

Speaking of Training Day, the adaptation of the hit movie premiered to a 0.9 three weeks ago and has since declined to a 0.8 and 0.7 in subsequent airings, respectively. What worked for FOX's Lethal Weapon clearly didn't translate for CBS. It's Certain to be Canceled.

Despite dropping six tenths from its special Thursday premiere to a 1.3 last week, Superior Donuts ticked up a tenth to a 1.4 this week. That's about in line with how Kevin Can Wait and Man with a Plan have performed on many weeks, and it's slightly below what The Great Indoors pulls in on Thursdays behind The Big Bang Theory. While CBS's revisit to a 2-hour comedy block on Mondays is arguably performing lower than what they would hope for, it's doing well enough to probably get all three freshman renewed, if CBS intends to keep these hours the same next season. As of now, I predict Superior Donuts as Likely to be Renewed.

As a result, The Odd Couple and 2 Broke Girls have never looked worse off. The former remains Certain to be Canceled in the index after finishing its third, limited season with a 1.02 average. There's been talk that it's not completely dead and could return for a fourth season, but I remain highly skeptical that it's anything beyond maintaining a positive image for the network until upfronts. With 2 Broke Girls, CBS has a sixth season show doing roughly the same week-to-week as two freshman (Man with a Plan, Superior Donuts) and a sophomore (Life in Pieces). CBS has hit a point where they need to develop new players to take over for the aging Big Bang in two or so years. While it's been a good utility player, CBS doesn't own it and it really doesn't need it. CBS arguably needed Mike & Molly more than they need 2 Broke Girls, yet they cancelled that prematurely last season after six seasons. As long as the other comedies keep performing as they are, I'm being cautious with 2 Broke Girls' chances and am leaving it as Likely to be Canceled.

Lastly, I have decided to upgrade Mom to Certain to be Renewed. I should've made this prediction sooner but I've been fairly cautious overall with comedy until everything premiered and had a chance to show its worth to the network. There's no denying that Mom continues to put in the work for CBS and it shows for it. It's still young, currently in its fourth season, and it gets major awards attention for the network. It may have more of a fight for renewal in the coming seasons, but it's definitely safe for now. It doesn't really have the power to launch new shows at this point, but it can help keep up the average of the night whether it's on Thursdays again or Mondays next season.

CBS Renew/Cancel: 'Superior Donuts' + 'Training Day'

Welcome to the second edition of the TV Ratings Guide's CBS Renew/Cancel Watch. All scripted, primetime shows are included in the prediction table below once they have premiered for the season. An analysis of any new prediction changes or observations follows. My current predictions are as of February 3, 2016.

The key to the right indicates which colors are associated with each prediction. The data in the table includes season lows, highs, and averages (Adults 18-49 demo), as well as the year-to-year changes for returning shows that have not already been officially renewed or canceled. These are provided for reasoning with and understanding my predictions. The shows are ordered by their season averages against only other scripted CBS shows.

Rank	Show	Season Low / High /Average	Y2Y Change
1	The Big Bang Theory	3.1 / 3.8 / 3.38	-9.4%
2	Superior Donuts	- / 1.9 / 1.90	--
3	NCIS	1.7 / 2.2 / 1.86	-15.9%
4	Kevin Can Wait	1.3 / 2.7 / 1.81	--
5	Bull	1.3 / 2.2 / 1.59	--
6	The Great Indoors	1.1 / 1.9 / 1.57	--
7	Criminal Minds	1.3 / 1.9 / 1.47	-18.1%
8	Mom	1.2 / 1.7 / 1.45	-14.3%
9	NCIS: LA	1.0 / 1.7 / 1.43	+8.3%
10	2 Broke Girls	1.2 / 1.7 / 1.41	-12.4%
11	Man with a Plan	1.1 / 1.6 / 1.34	--
12	Life in Pieces	1.0 / 1.5 / 1.31	-34.3%
13	NCIS: New Orleans	1.1 / 1.5 / 1.25	-28.4%
14	Scorpion	1.1 / 1.5 / 1.25	-29.3%
15	Hawaii Five-0	1.1 / 1.4 / 1.21	+6.4%
16	Blue Bloods	1.1 / 1.3 / 1.21	-2.4%
17	MacGyver	0.9 / 1.7 / 1.15	--
18	The Odd Couple	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.02	-27.4%
19	Code Black	0.7 / 1.2 / 0.98	-23.2%
20	Madam Secretary	0.7 / 1.1 / 0.95	-20.5%
21	Training Day	- / 0.9 / 0.90	--
22	Pure Genius	0.7 / 1.0 / 0.86	--
23	Elementary	0.5 / 0.8 / 0.69	-28.6%
24	Ransom	0.4 / 0.8 / 0.51	--

Superior Donuts had a strong series premiere for CBS with a 1.9, retaining 61.3 percent of its Big Bang lead-in (3.1). Its A18-49 demo rating matches the series premiere of The Great Indoors, which had slightly worse retention (55.9 percent) from TBBT (3.4) in the fall. This is an encouraging result for the midseason series, making it the #2 comedy and #2 scripted series overall on the network. However, it's moving to Mondays for its subsequent episodes, which will be a better indicator of how it can perform in a line-up that isn't boosted by the Big Bang effect. Should it perform decently on Mondays, the fight for slots on the next fall schedule will be fierce. For now, it's Likely to be Renewed.

Also new last night, Training Day premiered to a weak 0.9, which is 10 percent below the series premiere of Pure Genius (1.0). With one data point of a 0.9, it's already the fourth worst performing series on the network this season, inching out only Elementary, Pure Genius, and Ransom (which airs on Saturday). It enters the table as Likely to be Canceled.

CBS Renew/Cancel: Changes for 'MacGyver,' 'The Odd Couple'

CBS

Welcome to the second edition of the TV Ratings Guide's CBS Renew/Cancel Watch. All scripted, primetime shows are included in the prediction table below once they have premiered for the season. An analysis of any new prediction changes or observations follows. My current predictions are as of December 12, 2016.

The key to the right indicates which colors are associated with each prediction. The data in the table includes season lows, highs, and averages (Adults 18-49 demo), as well as the year-to-year changes for returning shows that have not already been officially renewed or canceled. These are provided for reasoning with and understanding my predictions. The shows are ordered by their season averages against only other scripted CBS shows.

Rank	Show Title	Season Low / High /Average	Y2Y Change
1	The Big Bang Theory	3.1 / 3.8 / 3.39	-9.2%
2	Kevin Can Wait	1.3 / 2.7 / 1.90	--
3	NCIS	1.7 / 2.2 / 1.87	-15.2%
4	Bull	1.5 / 2.2 / 1.67	--
5	The Great Indoors	1.1 / 1.9 / 1.52	--
6	Criminal Minds	1.3 / 1.9 / 1.51	-15.8%
7	NCIS: LA	1.2 / 1.7 / 1.49	+12.7%
8	2 Broke Girls	1.3 / 1.7 / 1.43	-11.3%
9	Mom	1.2 / 1.5 / 1.37	-19.1%
10	Man with a Plan	1.2 / 1.6 / 1.35	--
11	Life in Pieces	1.0 / 1.5 / 1.30	-35.1%
12	NCIS: New Orleans	1.2 / 1.5 / 1.28	-26.7%
13	Scorpion	1.1 / 1.5 / 1.28	-27.5%
14	Hawaii Five-0	1.2 / 1.4 / 1.25	+9.3%
15	Blue Bloods	1.1 / 1.3 / 1.20	-3.3%
16	MacGyver	0.9 / 1.7 / 1.15	--
17	The Odd Couple	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.03	-27.2%
18	Code Black	0.7 / 1.2 / 0.99	-22.1%
19	Madam Secretary	0.7 / 1.1 / 0.97	-19.0%
20	Pure Genius	0.8 / 1.0 / 0.91	--
21	Elementary	0.6 / 0.8 / 0.70	-27.3%

Prediction Changes:

MacGyver +1

On any other night of the week than Friday, MacGyver's ratings for an 8pm show would be devastatingly low for a freshman series. However, its greatest advantage is that CBS plopped it on a night of relatively modest expectations, where veteran shows like Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods garner a mostly 50+ audience but have enough bite in the A18-49 demo that they remain profitable and regularly top the night across the networks. MacGyver joins them as another CBS drama that draws 7-8 million viewers but averages a 1.15 demo rating through 10 episodes. Considering that it's only dipped below 1.0 once so far, things are looking OK. CBS has a stable night and that's all they could ask for. As such, MacGyver's leaning renewable should its consistency in the ratings continue. 

The Odd Couple -1
The Odd Couple has officially been called at 13 episodes for its third season, slowly bringing its episode count to 38 since it began its run in the spring of 2015. That's not a positive sign of hope for this series. Its current season is down 27 percent from the last, which itself was down 36 percent from the first. This was the sitcom's first fall slot, and it shows that the spring was more its pace as it was the lowest-rated sitcom on the network out of eight this time. CBS could keep renewing it to eventually get it to syndication, but here's why they won't: it would need to reach, in all likelihood, season 6 in order to become viable for a decent syndication package. That's not happening if it isn't getting a full third season, which it would need in order to get it there in 5. Barring an unlikely and quite significant uptick in the ratings for its final episodes of the season, I am calling a certain cancellation for The Odd Couple.